The one millionth electric vehicle rolls off the production line at the Volkswagen plant in Zwickau – AutoMart Canada

Danny Auerswald, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Sachsen GmbH: “One million electric cars produced is a strong achievement by the workforce. Despite numerous challenges in recent years, the team has always delivered the models on time, reliably and in high quality. I would like to thank you very much for this. Today is a day we can be proud of. At the same time, we have set an important course for the future. It is of central importance to implement our site agreement for the vehicle plant. We need to make our site competitive in the coming months to ensure future investment in the plant. We are currently examining promising options in promising business areas of the circular economy.”

Uwe Kunstmann, Chairman of the General Works Council of Volkswagen Sachsen GmbH: “A production anniversary is always special for the workforce. My thanks go to our team and their tireless efforts. It was only through the hard work of our colleagues that the one million e-cars could be built here at the site. Zwickau was the first plant to convert from 100 percent combustion engines to 100 percent electric mobility. We have proven in the Group that we can be relied on in Saxony because we think of our customers and transformation is something we are born with. In the second half of 2026, the factory will change, we will hand over models to other locations. At the same time, we see great opportunities for entering the circular economy topic. This would give us a second strategic pillar and once again play a pioneering role for the Group.”

Six electric models will be built in Zwickau for three Group brands. The last combustion vehicle rolled off the assembly line on June 26, 2020 – the end of an era that began in 1904 with August Horch and also included Trabant production in GDR times.

The starting signal for Zwickau into the all-electric era was given on 4 November 2019 with the official start of production of the ID.3. It was the Volkswagen Group’s first model based on the modular electric drive matrix (MEB). In just 26 months, a total of six vehicle start-ups were completed. With the start of production of the ID.5 in January 2022, the transformation of the Zwickau vehicle plant into a purely electric multi-brand location was completed and the MEB introduction was successfully implemented. To date, 2.3 million MEB vehicles have been delivered to customers worldwide across all Group brands – this means that almost every second electric car registered by the Volkswagen Group comes from Zwickau. The Volkswagen Group is the clear market leader in all-electric vehicles in Europe and achieved a market share of around 26 percent in this segment in the first quarter of 2025.

In 2024, 204,000 vehicles were produced in Zwickau. Since Volkswagen took over the site in 1990, more than seven million vehicles have left the factory halls. With the start of production of electric vehicles, Zwickau took on a key role in the Volkswagen Group: For the first time, a large car factory was completely converted to electric mobility at a cost of 1.2 billion euros. The bodies for the Bentley Bentayga and the Lamborghini Urus are also manufactured in Zwickau.