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Martyn Lee

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ev.news Europe: Volkswagen Just Put Four EV Factories at Risk

9/5/2026 • 26 min

Volkswagen is preparing to quit building cars at four German factories. Every one of them builds EVs. On Thursday this week, in Wolfsburg, Volkswagen's supervisory board voted unanimously — a day ahead of schedule — to approve something called Future Plan 2030. 50,000 more job cuts by the end of the decade. The model range gutted and cut roughly in half by 2035. And four German plants placed under a review that could end vehicle production at all of them. Those four plants are Emden. Zwickau. Hanover. And Audi's Neckarsulm. Zwickau was the first large car factory in Europe converted entirely to electric vehicles and Emden was the second. Hanover currently builds the ID. Buzz whilst Neckarsulm builds the e-tron GT and the A6 e-tron. Volkswagen spent something like 2.2bn euros converting Zwickau and Emden alone. Six years later, the company says it cannot demonstrate a competitive future use for either of them.So the question isn't "is Volkswagen in trouble." We knew that already. The question is why the factories it electrified hardest are the ones it now says it can’t justify - and what that tells you about how Europe built its EV industrial policy.

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