Because there are no wiring harnesses from Ukraine, production at Volkswagen’s e-car plant will largely be suspended next week.
(Photo: Bloomberg)
Dusseldorf Because parts from the Ukraine are suddenly missing, German car factories have to stop production for the first time because of the war started by Russia. As a Volkswagen spokesman confirmed on Friday, work at the VW plant in Zwickau will be suspended for four days in the coming week. In the “Transparent Manufactory” in Dresden, too, the employees stay at home for three days.
The production stop at the two Volkswagen locations is mainly due to the lack of cable harnesses that are manufactured by suppliers in the Ukraine. The spokesman added that it is currently still being examined how car production in Zwickau and Dresden will continue in the week after next. No concrete statements can be made about this at the moment. The plant in Zwickau has almost 10,000 employees, Dresden around 400.
Zwickau is currently the most important European location for the production of electric cars for Volkswagen. There, the group not only produces various models from the electric ID series of the core brand Volkswagen, but also electric vehicles from Audi and Seat/Cupra. Almost 1,200 electric cars of various brands are normally manufactured in Zwickau every day. ID.3 vehicles are built in small numbers in Dresden. The VW factories in Hanover and Emden are currently being converted to the production of electric vehicles.
Due to a lack of semiconductors, Volkswagen was not able to produce as many electric cars in Zwickau as planned last year. This has already slowed down Volkswagen’s electric offensive, and the war in Ukraine has caused VW to have further supply problems.
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“As one of the world’s largest car manufacturers with 660,000 employees, we are watching the attack on Ukraine with great concern and dismay,” said VW CEO Herbert Diess on Thursday morning immediately after the Russian attack on Ukraine. A task force has been set up to maintain the supply chains. Volkswagen also operates its own car factory in Kaluga, Russia, southwest of Moscow.
More on the effects of the Ukraine war on German companies:
The main thing now is to ensure the safety of employees in the region, said Diess. Employees working in Ukraine have already been offered to fly them out.
Central and Eastern Europe are an important sales market for the world’s second largest car company after Toyota. In 2021, all VW Group brands delivered almost 660,000 vehicles there. The core brand VW passenger cars sold around 206,000 new cars in the region last year.
More: Chip shortage continues: VW wants to cancel night shifts.