Large-scale reconsideration of planned investments
The completely new factory in Wolfsburg that Volkswagen would build from next spring to produce its upcoming electric top model may not materialize after all. This is reported by Reuters news agency based on an anonymous source within the brand.
€2 billion would be involved: a completely new production facility for electric cars from Volkswagen in Wolfsburg. The intention is – or was, it remains to be seen – that construction will start in the spring of 2023. The factory must be ready in 2026 to build the Volkswagen ‘Trinity’, the upcoming electric top model of the Germans. However, it now appears that the plans just might not go ahead. That writes Reuters.
In a letter to some of his staff, Oliver Blume, CEO of the Volkswagen Group, says that all of the brand’s investment plans and projects are under review. In February, it wants to make decisions and determine which projects should and should not go ahead. It is now rumored that the Volkswagen Group is considering scrapping plans for its all-new Trinity factory in Wolfsburg. Volkswagen may want to house the production of its new top model in one of the existing factories in Wolfsburg.
Compete with Tesla production pace
According to earlier Reuters reports, the Trinity plant was to become Volkswagen’s new benchmark of production speed. Now the brand has lost about 30 hours per built Volkswagen ID3, while Tesla – a little further in Germany – can build a Model Y in about 10 hours. By building an entirely new factory for its Trinity, Volkswagen wanted to get close to that 10 hours. Perhaps there is only a postponement, not a cancellation. According to Manager Magazin, a German business magazine, the construction of the factory is postponed to 2030. It is not clear whether that means that the Trinity top sedan will arrive four years later.
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– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl