Volkswagen has reached another milestone in its electric transformation journey with a new manufacturing facility for the upcoming Trinity electric vehicle (EV). This factory will be built close to the main plant in Wolfsburg, with investment totalling €2 billion (£1.65 billion/$2.17 billion).
The Group’s Supervisory Board passed a resolution to this effect today. The new Trinity factory is a key component of the largest modernisation program in the history of Volkswagen’s main location.
Construction work in the Warmenau district of Wolfsburg is to begin as early as spring 2023 and will take into account the building and environmental laws. In so doing, the new site will meet high environmental standards. To that end, Volkswagen will engage in an intensive exchange with the relevant authorities as well as with stakeholders.
The net carbon-neutral Trinity model, built using the most innovative manufacturing methods, is to roll off the assembly line from 2026. The new facility will become a model for the gradual transformation of production at the main Wolfsburg plant along with all other Volkswagen manufacturing sites worldwide.
Production of the new Trinity electric car will be net carbon-neutral and plans to set new standards in autonomous driving, electrification and the digitalisation of mobility
Ralf Brandstätter, Volkswagen CEO, said: “We are strengthening and sustaining the competitiveness of the main plant and giving the workforce a robust long-term perspective.
“We are setting benchmarks in the automotive industry with Trinity and the new factory and turning Wolfsburg into the global lighthouse for cutting-edge and efficient vehicle production. This reaffirms that the economic transformation of Germany as a centre of industry can be achieved.”
The state-of-the-art production facility will combine all areas of emobility, from the new electric platform through to software applications and groundbreaking assistance systems.
The Trinity project is the new guiding star for Volkswagen’s all-electric fleet and the crystallisation point for the brand’s ACCELERATE strategy. The idea is for vehicles to have a much shorter charging time and a range of over 435 miles (700km).
Vehicles will be net carbon-neutral, equipped with the Group’s state-of-the-art software and technically ready for autonomous driving, Level 4. Plus, the foundation will be the Group’s new SSP platform, which, over its lifetime, more than 40 million vehicles are projected. The platform debuts in the volume segment with Trinity.
Volkswagen also intends to set standards in Trinity production when it commences in 2026 and is aiming for a production time of 10 hours per vehicle. The key is fewer variants using fewer components with more automation, leaner production lines and new logistic concepts.
Campus Sandkamp creates the framework for optimal, time-efficient collaboration among all areas of Volkswagen through modern working practices. Volkswagen is investing €800 million (£659 million/$868 million) in the most advanced research and development centre in Europe to drive the future of mobility in the coming years.
There are plans to integrate modern electric vehicle production based on the SSP platform and modelled on the Trinity facility at the existing main plant by 2030.
Dr Christian Vollmer, Member of the Board of Management of the Volkswagen brand responsible for Production, said: “We are focusing on innovative and sustainable manufacturing concepts. Building a new factory in Warmenau also gives us the opportunity to make the existing factory fit for the future, step-by-step and from top to bottom.
“Trinity stands for a completely new kind of thinking, production, collaboration. It takes courage to shape the future. This is how Wolfsburg will become the yardstick for innovative production concepts – for Volkswagen and the entire industry.”
