The VW MEB plant in Zwickau will remain closed until early April.

As reported by the platform "Automobilwoche", the Saxon VW plants in Dresden and Zwickau were originally supposed to suspend assembly until March 18, 2022, but now Production Board Member Christian Vollmer has postponed the restart of the plants to "early April". Bad news for the Saxon capital: According to Vollmer, Dresden will "also remain closed in early April". The MEB production kicked off there in January 2021 at the glass factory as a supplement to Zwickau. According to Murat Aksel, VW Board Member for Procurement, companies from Ukraine would continue to supply parts, but only to a reduced extent. Therefore, VW is simultaneously setting up secondary sites in other regions but wants to continue sourcing parts from Ukraine. Aksel added to this:

"We support our suppliers and do not leave them in the lurch".

This should also delay the series launch of the ID.5 somewhat – the SUV coupe, which is assembled worldwide only in Zwickau, was actually supposed to be delivered to customers starting from the first week of April. Now there could be delays – which VW has not yet confirmed.

Affected by this are also the Audi Q4 e-tron and the Cupra Born: Both are also manufactured in Zwickau.

What does this mean?

Ironically, VW has to put the MEB production on hold for the foreseeable future, while the (still) combustion engine sites in Emden and Wolfsburg are running again, although the main plant is also operating with reduced capacity in single-shift operation. In addition to the customers, VW itself is at a disadvantage, where the CO2 mix across the fleet is currently worse than necessary due to the lack of electric vehicles.