Volkswagen’s EV manufacturing woes in Germany proceed. Volkswagen introduced it’s pausing EV manufacturing at its German plant as a result of an absence of electrical motors.
Volkswagen halts EV manufacturing at German plant
After halting EV manufacturing at its Dresden website final month, Volkswagen is pausing output of a number of electrical motels at one other plant in Germany.
Volkswagen is pausing EV manufacturing at its Zwickau plant for roughly three weeks. The explanation? A scarcity of electrical motors. A VW spokesperson instructed Reuters, “The manufacturing of e-drives on the Volkswagen Group Parts website in Kassel is at the moment solely attainable to a restricted extent.”
The halt in manufacturing will affect VW Group electrical fashions, together with the Audi This fall e-tron (and Sportback) and the Volkswagen ID.4 and ID.5 fashions.
Based on the supply, the electrical VW ID.3 and Cupra Born are usually not affected by the scarcity.
Zwickau is Volkswagen’s largest EV manufacturing website in Europe. The automaker introduced an almost $1.3B funding in 2018 to rework the plant to construct electrical fashions.
Nevertheless, increased rates of interest and fewer subsidies are resulting in diminishing demand for the VW model. Volkswagen lower round 300 staff from its Dresden plant on the finish of October, citing slowing orders.
The information comes after VW already deliberate to close down a manufacturing line at Zwickau over the vacations as a result of low demand.
Though electrical automobile deliveries rose 45% within the first 9 months of the yr, the corporate’s CFO, Arno Antilitz, stated EV orders in Europe have been right down to 150,000. That’s 50% fewer than final yr’s whole of 300,000.
VW’s EV gross sales share reached 9% within the third quarter, placing it on observe to hit its aim of 8%-10% in 2023.
Electrek’s Take
Though many headlines are pushing slowing EV demand as a result of automakers like Volkswagen, Ford, and GM delaying manufacturing and EV targets, that’s not precisely the case.
Larger rates of interest, mixed with Tesla’s drastic value cuts this yr, are making it powerful for opponents to maintain up.
Tesla’s Mannequin Y remained the best-selling automobile (gasoline or electrical) in September on its technique to turning into the top-selling automobile globally this yr.
Tesla had a head begin and is utilizing it to its benefit with increased volumes. By driving down costs, the EV chief is making it difficult for rivals to compete.
In the meantime, Europe accounted for 61% of VW electrical fashions offered by September. In second was China, the corporate’s largest marketplace for income. Though deliveries have been up barely (+4%) in China, Antilitz stated VW may lose market share till new EV fashions with XPeng roll out.
