Photo: Volkswagen
Volkswagen announced new plans for its main factory in Wolfsburg, where the Golf and Tiguan are assembled. The German carmaker will invest half a million euros to turn the factory into an EV-only production facility with the ID.3 as its first product. This will be followed by an electric compact SUV to replace the Tiguan at a later time.
With the demise of its former CEO, Herbert Diess, Volkswagen Group entered a fuzzier phase, a perception emphasized by plan changes at its core brand. Projects were delayed, some are still under consideration, and some are dead in the water as the new CEO Oliver Blume feels his path ahead. For the Volkswagen brand’s CEO, Thomas Schäfer, this is a time to show that he is up to the task.
The first decision announced after the new management team took over was to reconsider the second factory in Wolfsburg, where the project Trinity sedan was supposed to be built. While Trinity is still in the cards, it was delayed until at least 2028, when it might not matter anymore. Later, Volkswagen announced plans to revamp the MEB platform and keep it in production until the new SSP platform would be ready to power the Trinity vehicles.
The latest move is to turn the Wolfsburg plant into an EV powerhouse, home of the ID.3 production starting as early as next year. The electric compact car will continue to be built in Zwickau, but Wolfsburg will offer a needed production boost. Right after the production ramp-up for ID.3, a new electric model will be produced in Wolfsburg.
According to the company’s statement, this would be a “high-volume model for the booming SUV segment.” The new model will be based on the updated MEB+ platform and will complement the ID.4 and ID.5. Volkswagen thinks the MEB+ platform will remain relevant in the long run, thanks to improved efficiency and faster charging speeds. Volkswagen plans to use battery cells produced at its own cell factory in Salzgitter, which will start production in 2025.
This is where strategic thinking ends, and things get less clear from now on. We know that the Golf is living on borrowed time, but we also heard Blume saying that brands as strong as Golf and Tiguan would not disappear. It’s not clear whether the ID.3 will eventually be renamed as Golf or the electric Golf will be a new product entirely. For the same reason, we don’t know what the new e-SUV in the Tiguan class will be named or how it will complement the ID.4 and ID.5. Hopefully, Volkswagen will figure this out by 2025.
The first decision announced after the new management team took over was to reconsider the second factory in Wolfsburg, where the project Trinity sedan was supposed to be built. While Trinity is still in the cards, it was delayed until at least 2028, when it might not matter anymore. Later, Volkswagen announced plans to revamp the MEB platform and keep it in production until the new SSP platform would be ready to power the Trinity vehicles.
The latest move is to turn the Wolfsburg plant into an EV powerhouse, home of the ID.3 production starting as early as next year. The electric compact car will continue to be built in Zwickau, but Wolfsburg will offer a needed production boost. Right after the production ramp-up for ID.3, a new electric model will be produced in Wolfsburg.
According to the company’s statement, this would be a “high-volume model for the booming SUV segment.” The new model will be based on the updated MEB+ platform and will complement the ID.4 and ID.5. Volkswagen thinks the MEB+ platform will remain relevant in the long run, thanks to improved efficiency and faster charging speeds. Volkswagen plans to use battery cells produced at its own cell factory in Salzgitter, which will start production in 2025.
This is where strategic thinking ends, and things get less clear from now on. We know that the Golf is living on borrowed time, but we also heard Blume saying that brands as strong as Golf and Tiguan would not disappear. It’s not clear whether the ID.3 will eventually be renamed as Golf or the electric Golf will be a new product entirely. For the same reason, we don’t know what the new e-SUV in the Tiguan class will be named or how it will complement the ID.4 and ID.5. Hopefully, Volkswagen will figure this out by 2025.
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