In six works in Germany (Wolfsburg, Hanover, Zwickau, Emden, Osnabrück and Dresden) provides the Volkswagen-Group vehicles. Components such as engines, transmissions and axles are manufactured in four other plants (Kassel, Salzgitter, Braunschweig and Chemnitz). The VW company tariff applies to around 130,000 employees at the German VW plants. The collective agreement only applies in Osnabrück, the only factory where there is no strike IG Metall.
In the current tariff dispute It’s not just about paying employees, but also about the future of the plants. The board wants to cut the salaries of VW employees by 10 percent and close plants in Germany. The works council and IG Metall, on the other hand, are demanding significant wage increases, which should not be paid out, but rather used to finance reductions in working hours. The works council also wants guarantees for employees and factories: Since the demands of both sides are far apart in the midst of the industry crisis, The board and works council are preparing for a tough industrial dispute.
The following overview shows what importance the individual plants have for the VW Group – and at which locations employees are currently particularly worried about their future.
The main plant in Wolfsburg
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VW main plant in Wolfsburg: The largest connected car factory in the world
Photo: Volkswagen
Around 60,000 employees work at the VW main plant in Wolfsburg, where they produce the mass-produced Golf, Golf Variant, Tiguan and Touran models. At the same time, Wolfsburg is the headquarters of the Volkswagen Group with a total of ten vehicle brands (VW, VW Commercial Vehicles, Audi, Skoda, Seat, Cupra, Ducati, Porsche, Lamborghini and Bentley). The largest connected car factory in the world is located on the Mittelland Canal – the hall area alone is around 1.6 square kilometers in size. The size of the main plant is both an advantage and a disadvantage in the current tariff dispute: The Wolfsburg location is also set for the future, but the plant, where almost 500,000 vehicles rolled off the assembly line last year, is no longer being used to capacity. As part of its drastic restructuring plan, the VW board also sees great savings potential at the headquarters: not only for employees in the plants, but also in administration.
Hanover plant: commercial vehicles and ID.Buzz
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VW commercial vehicles factory in Hanover: The electric Bulli ID.Buzz is manufactured here
Photo: Ole Spata / picture alliance / dpa
The VW Group’s second largest German vehicle factory is in Hanover-Stöcken: around 14,000 employees produce the T7 Multivan family carriage as well as VW’s hope, the ID.Buzz, the fully electric successor to the legendary VW Bulli. The Hanover plant is the group’s headquarters for commercial vehicles and is still considered indispensable, even if demand for buses has fallen significantly. With the new ID.Buzz, VW wants to increase capacity utilization in Hanover, but so far the high price has caused a stuttering start.
Hanover is also the seat of the Lower Saxony State Chancellery: Prime Minister Stephan Weil (65, SPD), who also sits on the VW supervisory board, once again impressively advocated for the return of the purchase bonus for electric cars. With six plants (Wolfsburg, Hanover, Emden, Osnabrück, Salzgitter and Braunschweig), the VW Group is extremely important for the state of Lower Saxony – and Weil will do everything to ensure that it stays that way.
The fact that VW has now removed the “VW Nutzfahrzeuge” logo from the old telecommunications tower at the main train station (“Telemoritz”) and sold the tower is not seen as a bad omen on the Leine. The buyer of the tower is an investor named Oliver Blume, not related to the VW CEO.
The same applies in Hanover: The location will remain the same, but you will definitely be part of the savings round.
Zwickau plant: everything is electric
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Zwickau plant: This is where the ID.3 comes from
Photo:
Hendrik Schmidt / picture alliance
With around 9,400 employees, the Zwickau plant is the largest of the three Volkswagen Saxony locations. Since 2022, only electric vehicles have been produced in Zwickau with the models and model variants of ID.3, ID.4, Audi Q4 e-Tron and Cupra Born. Ex-VW boss Herbert Diess (66) had invested around 1.3 billion euros in Zwickau to prepare the factory for the electromobile future. This makes Zwickau a technological pioneer, but is suffering even more from the current low demand for electric vehicles. Up to 300,000 cars could be built in Zwickau per year – if demand picks up again. The plant is sustainable, but vulnerable in the downturn.
Emden plant: Farewell to the Passat
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VW plant in Emden: conversion to electric models
Photo: Volkswagen
The Passat, the best-selling Volkswagen model after the Golf, was manufactured at the Emden plant for almost 50 years. The last one rolled off the production line this year. The ninth generation of the Passat is manufactured at the Bratislava plant. In the future, the approximately 8,000 employees on the East Frisian coast will only produce the fully electric ID.4 and ID.7 models; three-digit million sums have already been invested in the location for the conversion. Just like Zwickau, Emden is currently suffering from weak demand for electricity: If there are actually factory closures, Emden is considered a candidate.
However, the port of Emden speaks in favor of the location: it is one of the three largest automobile transshipment ports in Europe and plays a central role for overseas shipping.
Osnabrück plant: the last convertible
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Osnabrück plant: This is where the T-Roc convertible is made
Photo: Volkswagen
The smallest factory in Lower Saxony with around 2,300 employees is currently producing the only remaining open vehicle from the Volkswagen brand: the T-Roc Cabriolet. Osnabrück is a long way from the capacity limit of 100,000 vehicles: At one time it was planned to move the so-called “overflow production” of the Porsche Boxster and the Porsche Cayman to Osnabrück, but this will probably remain in Zuffenhausen until further notice. Employees therefore fear that the lights in the former Karmann factory halls will go out in a few years.
The fact that bodies for Škoda and Bentley are also manufactured here is probably not enough to guarantee the location. Osnabrück needs more models. At the same time, it is the only German plant where not the VW company tariff, but the IG Metall area tariff applies, and the collective bargaining round has already been completed there. Therefore, the employees of the threatened plant are not taking part in the current warning strikes.
Dresden factory: the glass factory
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Dresden: Production of the ID.3 in the glass factory
Photo: Oliver Killig
It is more of a showroom than a car factory and therefore runs outside the competition: around 340 employees produce Volkswagen’s electric model ID.3 in the Saxon state capital. Starting in 2001, VW’s luxury model Phaeton rolled off the assembly line here in 83,000 square meters of final assembly and “experience area”. Since 2021, the ID.3 has been finally assembled here and delivered to customers who pick up their vehicle from the factory themselves and combine it with a “shopping experience”. want. This is also why the glass factory is not located in a boring industrial area, but within walking distance of Dresden’s old town. Doesn’t play a role in the location discussion because of its size and special function.
Kassel plant: the largest components factory
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Kassel-Baunatal: Production in the VW component factory
Photo: Christina Czybik
Six plants in Lower Saxony, three in Saxony – and one plant in Hesse: With around 16,500 employees at the Kassel-Baunatal site, VW is the largest employer in northern Hesse. The employees at Volkswagen’s largest component plant in the world produce transmissions, electric drives, body parts and exhaust gas purification systems that are installed in numerous of the group’s brands worldwide. To produce aluminum transmission housings and large structural parts for vehicle bodies, VW has set up Europe’s largest light metal foundry in Kassel. Engines and gearboxes are also reconditioned at the site and the majority of original spare parts are stored. In direct comparison with Braunschweig and Salzgitter, Kassel can score points with its size.
Salzgitter plant: engine components, future battery cells
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Salzgitter plant: future battery center for the Volkswagen Group
Photo: Julian Stratenschulte / dpa
Since the plant was founded in 1970, more than 64 million engines have been produced in Salzgitter. They are used in models from the Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Audi, Škoda, Seat, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles and Bugatti brands. Today, around 7,500 employees in Salzgitter manufacture motors and electric components (rotors and stators) for electric vehicles such as ID.3 and ID.4. In the future, the location will become the battery center for the Volkswagen Group: Volkswagen is investing around 2 billion euros in the transformation from the “leading engine” to the “leading cell”. The Volkswagen Group’s first battery cell factory is to be built in Salzgitter. From 2025, the cell factory will have an annual capacity of 40 GWh – enough for around 500,000 electric vehicles. The engine production employees are currently being retrained in battery cell production.
Braunschweig plant: axles, steering systems, battery systems
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Braunschweig: Production robots in the production of VW battery systems
Photo: Volkswagen
The Braunschweig plant, built in 1938, is Volkswagen AG’s oldest plant. Around 7,000 employees build axles, steering systems and battery systems here. Last year, components for 4.6 million vehicles were produced here. Braunschweig has also been focusing on electromobility for several years: battery technology has been part of the product portfolio since 2013. The Braunschweig plant now produces the battery systems for a large number of the Group’s battery-electric and hybrid vehicles and, despite its small size, is of strategic importance on the path to the electromobile future. Nevertheless, there is growing concern among employees that of the three component plants in Kassel, Braunschweig and Salzgitter, only two plants will remain after the round of restructuring has been completed.
Chemnitz plant: engines, crankshafts, cylinder heads
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Chemnitz: The VW engine factory
Photo: Volkswagen
Almost 700,000 gasoline engines were manufactured in Chemnitz, Saxony, in 2023. Since 1989, a total of around 18 million VW engines have rolled off the assembly line. Around 1,900 employees work in the approximately 210,000 square meter factory right next to Chemnitz City Park. The Chemnitz engine plant supplies engines to the vehicle plants and components to the Volkswagen Group’s component plants.
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These include gasoline direct injection engines (TSI engines) as well as engine assemblies such as balancer shafts and integrated valve train modules. In the future, the location should also start producing components for e-mobility. Concerns about the future are just as great at the Chemnitz engine plant as they are at the three VW component plants.