Daily Management Review

VW Zwickau factory is getting ready for electric cars production


12/19/2019


Only electric vehicles will be produced at the VW factory in Zwickau starting from 2021. The goal of the German auto concern is to produce and sell 22 million electric cars of 70 different models until 2027.



Albert Bridge
Albert Bridge
VW announces the beginning of a new era in the automotive industry and a complete change in manufacturing philosophy, implying the abandonment of the production of cars with internal combustion engines in favor of electric motors.

For this purpose, the largest electric vehicle manufacturing company in Europe will be created at a factory in Zwickau near the German-Czech border. The concern will need €1.2 billion to convert the existing plant. “The biggest challenge for us is the radical transformation of the existing company without stopping release of the previous Volkswagen Golf,” said Reinhard de Vries, head of engineering and logistics at VW.

First of all, he means assembly, painting and installation of new cars. According to Reinhard de Fries, it is planned to use 1,700 new robots and 500 automated transport systems in the assembly of electric car bodies. In parallel with the technical re-equipment by 2021, 8000 employees of the enterprise must undergo retraining.

In the production of electric vehicles, a significant part of the process will be automated, but the number of cars produced should increase, and this will ensure stable employment for the employees of the enterprise. Since 2021, it is planned to produce 330 thousand cars annually at the Zwickau plant, 30,000 more than now. Officially, the company plans to launch production in November 2020.

source: dw.de