After just over five years of dedicated electric vehicle production, Volkswagen’s Zwickau plant has reached a major milestone: this week, the one millionth all-electric vehicle was produced at the site. The milestone car – a Volkswagen ID.3 GTX Performance in Kings Red Metallic – will be handed over to its new owner from Bavaria in a few weeks at the Transparent Factory in Dresden.
Danny Auerswald, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Sachsen GmbH commented “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 added “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.”
Zwickau now manufactures six all-electric models across three Volkswagen Group brands, having fully transitioned from internal combustion engines to EV production. The last combustion-engine vehicle rolled off the assembly line on June 26, 2020, marking the close of a historic chapter that began in 1904 with August Horch and included the iconic Trabant during the GDR era.
The site’s all-electric era began on November 4, 2019, with the start of ID.3 production – the first model based on the Volkswagen Group’s Modular Electric Drive Matrix (MEB). Over the next 26 months, six EV launches were successfully completed, culminating in the January 2022 launch of the ID.5 and the plant’s full transformation into a dedicated, multi-brand electric vehicle facility.
To date, 2.3 million MEB-based vehicles have been delivered to customers worldwide across the Group, with nearly every second electric Volkswagen Group vehicle originating from Zwickau. The Group remains the market leader in all-electric vehicles in Europe, achieving a 26% market share in the segment during Q1 2025.
In 2024, the Zwickau plant produced 204,000 vehicles, contributing to a legacy of over seven million vehicles built at the site since Volkswagen assumed control in 1990. The transformation into a full-scale EV factory – a first for the Group – involved a €1.2 billion investment. Zwickau also plays a vital role in premium vehicle manufacturing, producing bodies for the Bentley Bentayga and Lamborghini Urus.
