Saturday, October 2nd, 2021
VW main plant underutilized
Works council for more e-cars from Wolfsburg
The planning round is currently underway at VW, with effects until the second half of the 1920s. Works council boss Cavallo calls for clear plans for the currently underutilized parent plant in Wolfsburg. Your solution: produce e-cars faster.
In view of the fact that the main plant in Wolfsburg is underutilized, the Volkswagen works council is calling for a faster route to the production of e-cars. “The difficult situation at the Wolfsburg plant is a clear focus of the ongoing consultations for this year’s planning round,” said the general and group works council chairman Daniela Cavallo, according to a statement. With the conclusion of the planning round, the investments in the global group locations would be determined in about six weeks. The resolutions go into the second half of the decade.
Cavallo and her deputy Gerardo Scarpino referred to the tense situation in the main plant. For the second year in a row, the factory is threatened with a historic production low since the post-war period. Last year Wolfsburg only had half a million vehicles. This year, which is also marked by considerable short-time work, is likely to be even less.
This means that the main plant not only falls below the most recent ten-year average of just under 780,000 cars per year. The utilization commitments agreed with the company are also far from this: With the future pact adopted at the end of 2016, the management board guaranteed a utilization of at least 820,000 vehicles in the main plant for 2020. In mid-2018, the target of one million vehicles was even promised. “Even after adjusting for the current negative factors corona and the lack of semiconductors, we are a long way from these mutually agreed plans,” said Cavallo.
The workforce is increasingly concerned. “She does not know such long short-time working phases,” said Cavallo. This applies not only, but also especially to the colleagues at the main plant. The Trinity lighthouse project, which will bring a completely new VW flagship to the main plant in the middle of the decade, will not turn the tide.
The start of production for Trinity is expected for 2026. “It can already be seen from the development of the numbers that the Trinity will not be sufficient to utilize the plant,” emphasized Scarpino. The location needs a quicker route to e-mobility, demanded Cavallo, it must be a “voluminous model”.