Record holders among them

These are the ten VW locations in Germany

(Bild: APA/AFP/RONNY HARTMANN)

VW is in crisis. For the first time in 30 years, there could be compulsory redundancies and plant closures. The brand has ten sites in Germany alone - including the largest car factory in the world. An overview:

Wolfsburg
The VW main plant on the Mittelland Canal is considered the largest contiguous car factory in the world. The facilities cover an area of 6.5 square kilometers and around 62,000 employees work for VW at the company headquarters. The plant and the city of Wolfsburg were founded in 1938 for the production of the "KdF-Wagen", which later became the VW Beetle. Today, the Golf, Tiguan and Touran are built here. However, with a recent annual production of around 500,000 vehicles, the site is only operating at half capacity. VW canceled the construction of another plant for electric cars in Wolfsburg in 2023.

VW Beetle

(Bild: APA/dpa/Uwe Zucchi)

Hanover
Hanover was the Group's second German plant in 1956. Six years earlier, the first VW Transporter had rolled off the production line in Wolfsburg. Now the "Bulli" got its own location. The Transporter remained the most important model in Hanover until the sixth generation was discontinued in mid-2024. Today, the Multivan and the all-electric ID. launched in 2022 are produced here. Buzz, launched in 2022. The site has around 14,700 employees. Staff have already been reduced since 2020 - without layoffs - by not filling vacant positions. 3000 jobs have been lost since then, with a further 2000 to follow by 2029.

Emden
For 50 years, the VW plant in Emden was primarily associated with one model: the Passat, which rolled off the production line here from 1974. VW had opened the site in East Frisia ten years earlier - primarily because of the access to the port for overseas exports. The plant, which now employs 8,600 people, has since been converted into an all-electric site. VW has invested more than 1 billion euros in this since 2020. Instead of the Passat, the ID.4 and ID.7 are now built here. Due to the recent weak demand for e-cars, VW has already had to temporarily stop production.

Kassel (Baunatal)
The Volkswagen plant in Kassel is not actually located in Kassel, but in nearby Baunatal. Founded in 1958, the site is now the Group's largest component plant worldwide and, with 16,800 employees, the largest VW site in Germany after Wolfsburg. Transmissions and exhaust systems for combustion engines and electric motors for electric models are produced here. Parts for the body and chassis are also produced in its own foundry. The site also has the largest spare parts warehouse in Europe, which distributes original parts for the VW, Audi, Skoda and Seat brands worldwide.

Brunswick
Today's component plant in Braunschweig is considered to be the oldest VW factory of all. Even before the main plant in Wolfsburg, the production of tools for future car production began here in 1938. Today, axles, brake disks and steering systems, among other things, are manufactured at the site, which employs around 7200 people. Production is spread across three locations in the city. Braunschweig also plays an important role in e-mobility: since 2013, the battery systems that are then installed in e-cars have been produced here from cells delivered to the plant.

Salzgitter
The Group's largest construction site is currently located in Salzgitter: the Group's first own battery cell factory is being built right next to the existing engine plant. Production is set to start in 2025 and Salzgitter will then become "the engine lead plant and the cell lead plant", as VW announced. This is already the second major transformation for the site, which currently employs 6350 people. The plant was founded in 1970 for the production of a new VW model, which then sold only moderately. Five years later, VW turned it into an engine plant. In 2023, more than 800,000 petrol and diesel engines were produced.

Osnabrück
Today's VW site looks back on more than 100 years of car manufacturing tradition. As early as 1901, Wilhelm Karmann took over a bicycle and car factory here, and from 1949 the company built convertibles for VW as a contract manufacturer. When Karmann had to file for insolvency in 2009, Volkswagen took over the site. This was not least thanks to the efforts of Christian Wulff (CDU), then Minister President and member of the VW Supervisory Board. Today, the site employs 2,300 people and mainly produces vehicles for its sister company Porsche: the Boxster and Cayman. The last VW convertible - the open T-Roc - will be phased out in 2025.

Zwickau
August Horch laid the foundations for the Audi brand here 120 years ago, and the Trabant small car was built in Zwickau during the GDR era. After reunification, VW built a new factory on the outskirts of the city. Today, with around 9500 employees, it is regarded as the Group's lead plant for e-mobility. The car factory was the first in the Group to be completely converted to electric by 2020 at a cost of around 1.2 billion euros. The site is now suffering from the weak demand for e-cars. As a result, shifts have already been cut and the contracts of hundreds of temporary employees have not been extended.

Chemnitz
Volkswagen's involvement in Chemnitz began even before reunification. VW four-stroke engines for the GDR models Trabant, Wartburg and Barkas had been produced here under license since 1988. The whole thing was arranged by the then VW Group boss Carl Hahn, a native of Chemnitz. After German reunification, Volkswagen then took over the engine plant. Unlike Zwickau, the site is still completely dependent on the combustion engine. Last year, the 1800 employees produced 690,000 engines - exclusively for petrol engines.

Dresden
It is the newest and smallest VW site: the "Transparent Factory" in Dresden. Founded in 2001 for the Phaeton luxury model, it was a prestige project of the then CEO Ferdinand Piëch. But in 2016, VW pulled the ripcord in the face of falling sales figures. Since then, the factory with its 340 employees has been struggling to find a new purpose. The ID.3 has been assembled since the beginning of 2021 - in small numbers. VW is now openly considering ending vehicle production in Dresden. Instead, Dresden could become a pure delivery center next to the Autostadt in Wolfsburg.