Volkswagen will make an initial investment of some €460 million in its Wolfsburg factory at the Group headquarters by the beginning of 2025. This investment is primarily earmarked for preparations to produce the new ID.3. The compact electric car will be leaving the assembly line in Wolfsburg from 2023—initially in partial production, with full production slated from 2024.

Ramp-up is due for completion by the end of 2025. The necessary training measures for the workforce are currently being prepared. Post-ID.3 ramp-up, a further all-electric model for the booming SUV segment is to boost Wolfsburg’s capacity utilization for EV production over the long term. The technical basis for the new model is the Modular Electric Drive System (MEB).

Volkswagen’s e-car platform is to undergo substantial further development as the MEB+, thus becoming even more efficient.

Customers will benefit from the MEB+ in many respects. The platform will enable faster charging speeds and longer ranges. Volkswagen plans to use the highly-standardized unified cell manufactured at the Group’s own cell factory in Salzgitter (start of production in 2025) in the system.

This will be followed by a further pillar for the Wolfsburg site, the Trinity vehicle project. It will be based on the future Group-wide Scalable Systems Platform (SSP). By the end of 2033 at the latest, the Volkswagen brand will only build electric cars in Wolfsburg—as in all of its other factories in Europe.

The first step towards the factory’s electric future involves re-equipping the site for the ID.3. This electric model will begin leaving the assembly line in Wolfsburg from 2023 in addition to current production in Zwickau. For the largest factory in the entire Volkswagen Group, this is the first all-electric vehicle based on the MEB.