Photo: Volkswagen
Volkswagen’s shift to electric cars has already started, but its executives think it is still not enough. The company seems to believe only Project Trinity will really make it able to compete with Tesla. With that in mind, the German carmaker announced it would build a new factory to produce the vehicles this project will create. There are multiple reasons for that.
The most important is that Wolfsburg currently produces Volkswagen’s bread and butter: the Golf and the Tiguan. Modifying the factory to make the Trinity would cause disruptions and prevent the automaker from conceiving new manufacturing methods from scratch, as Project Trinity proposes.
So far, Volkswagen only said the project would give birth to a flat vehicle that will have a length between 4.50 meters (177.2 inches) and 4.7 m (185 in). By flat cars, the carmaker means a low vehicle, slated to be very aerodynamic and have a small frontal area, improving its energy efficiency.
The Trinity will use an evolution of the MEB called SSP (Scalable Systems Platform). Audi’s Artemis Project will also use the new architecture. Consider these two as brothers from different mothers.
Volkswagen’s need for a new approach towards manufacturing may have to do with the plan to adopt massive casting parts. They could be crucial for the German carmaker to achieve a manufacturing time per unit of about 10 hours. This is what Volkswagen believes Tesla will be able to pull out with Giga Grünheide.
With Tesla’s German factory yet to produce any cars, that claim seems more like something Elon Musk might have told Herbert Diess to get him terrified. It worked: the Volkswagen Group CEO compares his company to Tesla so much that there were rumors about supervisory board members discussing Diess’ future in the automaker. They would not be pleased with so much admiration for the American competitor.
There was no word on how much the new factory would cost nor when it could be ready. The new factory should be close to Wolfsburg. If Volkswagen keeps its plans to start producing the Project Trinity by 2026, construction work has to begin at least two years before that. Betting on the same approach, Tesla adopted with Giga Grünheide would be pretty risky.
According to what Ralf Brandstätter told Bloomberg and Reuters, the supervisory board still needs to approve the plan for the new factory. When it is ready, the Volkswagen brand CEO said it would have a production capacity of 250,000 units per year.
That will allow Wolfsburg to undergo reforms and start producing electric cars by 2027. At the same time, it will give Volkswagen additional manufacturing power when it already has factories with idle capacity. With the new plant, the company will probably have more facilities than it actually needs. As members of the supervisory board, unions must already have that in mind.
So far, Volkswagen only said the project would give birth to a flat vehicle that will have a length between 4.50 meters (177.2 inches) and 4.7 m (185 in). By flat cars, the carmaker means a low vehicle, slated to be very aerodynamic and have a small frontal area, improving its energy efficiency.
The Trinity will use an evolution of the MEB called SSP (Scalable Systems Platform). Audi’s Artemis Project will also use the new architecture. Consider these two as brothers from different mothers.
Volkswagen’s need for a new approach towards manufacturing may have to do with the plan to adopt massive casting parts. They could be crucial for the German carmaker to achieve a manufacturing time per unit of about 10 hours. This is what Volkswagen believes Tesla will be able to pull out with Giga Grünheide.
With Tesla’s German factory yet to produce any cars, that claim seems more like something Elon Musk might have told Herbert Diess to get him terrified. It worked: the Volkswagen Group CEO compares his company to Tesla so much that there were rumors about supervisory board members discussing Diess’ future in the automaker. They would not be pleased with so much admiration for the American competitor.
There was no word on how much the new factory would cost nor when it could be ready. The new factory should be close to Wolfsburg. If Volkswagen keeps its plans to start producing the Project Trinity by 2026, construction work has to begin at least two years before that. Betting on the same approach, Tesla adopted with Giga Grünheide would be pretty risky.
According to what Ralf Brandstätter told Bloomberg and Reuters, the supervisory board still needs to approve the plan for the new factory. When it is ready, the Volkswagen brand CEO said it would have a production capacity of 250,000 units per year.
That will allow Wolfsburg to undergo reforms and start producing electric cars by 2027. At the same time, it will give Volkswagen additional manufacturing power when it already has factories with idle capacity. With the new plant, the company will probably have more facilities than it actually needs. As members of the supervisory board, unions must already have that in mind.
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