The electric car no longer electrifies Volkswagen: production stops
Does Volkswagen believe less in electric cars? The German group stops production for three weeks. Officially due to shortages in supplies, but given the sharp drop in demand and recent layoffs the reason would be to avoid a possible bubble
Once upon a time there was a company, in the heart of Europe, determined to rush towards electric mobility. A frantic race and, according to the Volkswagen Board of Directors, even senseless, given that when the former CEO, Herbert Diess , hypothesized thirty thousand layoffs «to reduce the costs of the transition to electric cars and be able to compete with Tesla», the only one to end in the middle of the street it was him. The successor, Oliver Blume , is known, has always been a little more lukewarm on the electric car, but Volkswagen intends to push away the memory of dieselgate, so the brand has remained the most convinced and involved in embracing the ecological transition. At least until these last few hours.
VOLKSWAGEN UNPLUGS THE ELECTRIC CAR
Volkswagen has in fact announced a three-week stop to the production of cars on tap. Officially the cause is to be found in the lack of electric motors, caused by unspecified "unexpected interruptions in supplies".
An interruption which affected the new AP550 engines with 286 HP and 550 Nm, intended for all electric vehicles of the Volkswagen Group and which naturally has a domino effect on the entire production. So much so that Wolfsburg decided to stop the assembly lines of the new Model Years of ID.4, ID.5 and Q4 e-tron for three weeks, both in the SUV and Sportback versions.
PRODUCTION REDUCED UNTIL THE END OF 2023
Volkswagen let it be known that production of the ID.3 and the Cupra Born is continuing regularly – restarting after the interruption in October – and of the latest arrival ID.7. However, Volkswagen also admits that production will also be reduced "between November and December".
WHAT'S BEHIND?
So far the official news. However, there are those who point out that Volkswagen's conviction to continue investing in electric cars seems to be fading from month to month, recalling that the Group is reducing staff at its plant in the eastern German city of Zwickau (where six electric models of three brands of the Group: Volkswagen, Audi and Cupra), due to the low demand for cars on tap, which collapsed in Germany after the end of government incentives which were no longer renewed. In fact, from September 1st, fleets were excluded from the group of beneficiaries of the benefits.
Of the 2,000 people who worked at the plant in August on temporary hires out of a total of approximately 10,700 employees, 269 were let go in October, when their contracts expired. This despite VW having reiterated on all occasions that the Zwickau plant would remain central to the German company's strategy despite the change at the top. After all, it is a gigafactory in which the German brand has invested 1.2 billion for the technical make-up.
THE EARLY AUTUMN STOP
Some observers, then, emphasize the fact that already at the end of September Volkswagen had decided to temporarily cut the production of the electric ID.3 and Cupra Born models: in Dresden and in the aforementioned Zwickau where until 16 October last a single assembly line operates.
And thoughts turn to the belated course correction of Panasonic , which is producing more batteries than it can sell, and General Motors , which has just postponed the market launch and start of production of the battery-powered variants of the pick-up trucks by a year. -up Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra. Because the electric car may no longer be a business for vehicle and battery manufacturers. At least until the arrival of new, overbearing, national incentives throughout Europe.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/lauto-elettrica-non-elettrizza-piu-volkswagen-stop-alla-produzione/ on Fri, 10 Nov 2023 13:06:27 +0000.