Vw: the last thermal car in Zwickau, now electric only

Last June 26 will remain a date to be marked in red on the Volkswagen German calendar.

On that day, the last example of cars with a combustion engine left the Zwickau production line: it is a seventh generation Golf R Variant. From now on, only electric models of the Volskwagen and, in the future, also of the Audi and Seat brands will be built in Zwickau. This transition to a new era has a great past: in Zwickau, the production of combustion cars began in 1904 and saw many cars leaving the factory, including Horch models and, at the time of the German Democratic Republic, the famous Trabant . In May 1990, Volkswagen started production in this West Saxony factory: in the past thirty years, 6,049,207 copies of the Polo, Golf, Golf Variant, Passat sedan and Passat Variant models have been produced in Zwickau. In Hall 6 , where the Golf Variant was being produced, work has already started: after a conversion phase that will last a few weeks, the first electric cars will be produced by the end of the year. Together with the Volkswagen ID.4, there will be another electric SUV from the Audi brand. The serial production of the ID.3 1ST edition started in this factory in November 2019, while that of the electric SUV ID.4 will follow during the summer. At full capacity, the overall production capacity will reach 330,000 cars per year. With the gradual transformation of the Zwickau plant, Volkswagen is implementing the total conversion of a factory to electric mobility for the first time.

Investments for the transition amount to around € 1.2 billion. In the final expansion phase, from 2021, six models based on the Meb electric modular platform of three different brands of the Volkswagen Group will be produced here.