Cookie Consent by Free Privacy Policy website Innovative electric vehicles secure employment and high plant utilisation in Hannover through to the end of the decade
dicembre 09, 2021 - Volkswagen

Innovative electric vehicles secure employment and high plant utilisation in Hannover through to the end of the decade

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  • ID. California will expand #Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles’ California models as an all-electric campervan
  • VWCV plant in #Hannover confirmed as production site for first Artemis Project vehicles and as body construction for Bentley
  • VWCV CEO Carsten Intra: “We are developing #Hannover into a multi-brand and high-tech site.”
  • The site agreement jointly signed by management board and workers’ representatives rules out any operational redundancies in the period through to the end of 2029

Hannover, 9 December 2021 – At their meeting today, the #Volkswagen AG supervisory board confirmed that production for the first vehicles from the Artemis Project and vehicle body construction for a new Bentley model will be done at the #Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles’ (VWCV) #Hannover site. The board also approved the capital expenditure for VWCV’s all-electric
ID. California campervan and other derivatives of VWCV. The taking of these decisions secures the economical utilisation of the production facility at the headquarters of the VWCV brand and thus the corresponding jobs through to the end of the decade.

“Today's decisions by the supervisory board confirm our future course at VWCV: we are developing #Hannover into a multi-brand and high-tech site and at the same time strengthen our own commercial vehicle model range. And we’re investing in the sustainable expansion of our successful California model series”, explains Dr Carsten Intra, Chairman of the VWCV Brand Board of Management. “Thanks to the understanding reached with our works council within the scope of the existing site agreement, we have thus secured the utilisation of the production facility. And the most important thing about this is that we have in this way also secured the jobs of the men and women who work in it.”

Work in #Hannover already started on schedule this summer on building the new assembly line, on which production is due to start in 2025. It was originally intended to both produce premium electric models for Audi and Porsche at VWCV, and also to do the vehicle body construction for a new Bentley model in #Hannover. However, as Porsche is going to use a different platform in its model planning, production in Stöcken did not really offer any meaningful synergies. Setting up two new production lines using different platforms would increase the complexity unnecessarily. The models to be produced in #Hannover will be the new Multivan unveiled this year, the T 6.1 and, from next year, the ID. Buzz in People Mover and Cargo versions, plus, in the future, the ID. California and the confirmed production volumes from the Artemis Project and the new Bentley model.

Bertina Murkovic, Chair of the Works Council at #Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, explains: “After the disappointment of Porsche deciding against the #Hannover site, we have now agreed the investment for a future of high utilisation levels in #Hannover and good strategic prospects for the VWCV brand. The fact that we are developing the ID. Buzz into the camper segment too is good news for Hannover! The other derivatives decisions for the new Multivan are also to be seen very positively. All in all, with the products now agreed we are at full capacity for this decade. Now we need to get our workforce ready for the changes. The emphasis over the next few years will be on the transformation of the personnel. It is precisely in relation to this that we have described the basic framework in our new agreement: job security is the foundation! Every man and woman will be appropriately deployed and trained. Despite all the change and the necessity for it – people will come along on the journey if they sense that their concerns and reservations are being taken seriously. Certainty during times of change is our message and demand. That’s what Planning Round 70 and our new site agreement stand for.”
 
ID. California expands VWCV’s array of campervan models

The VWCV California model range of campervans has been very popular and in high demand in many countries of the world for many years. The new Caddy California recently completed the range as a micro camper. Despite the challenging market situation, the number of orders received for the California models over the last few months has continually and significantly increased. With the confirmation from the supervisory board, VWCV will now be starting the development of a further California family member for the second half of this decade: “The ID. California based on the ID. Buzz will combine the ongoing trend towards mobile leisure arrangements with sustainable CO2-neutral mobility. Made by VWCV!”, says Carsten Intra.

Site agreement secures jobs

“The addendum to our site agreement with the works council, which has been in place since 2018, would not have been possible without today’s decisions being taken”, explains Dr Astrid Fontaine, Member of the VWCV Brand Board of Management responsible for People and Transformation. “For that I thank everyone involved. With this agreement we can continue to rule out any operational redundancies at the #Hannover site through to the end of 2029 and guarantee more than 10,000 jobs. In order to successfully organise the fundamental transformation at VWCV, important changes are required over the coming years in terms of the workforce. Digitalisation and electrification of our products will lead to jobs continuing to change fundamentally – some jobs will no longer be needed, new ones will be added. In order to train up our team for the new tasks and to get everyone fit for the future, we are investing from next year through to the end of the decade a further 21 million euros”, adds Fontaine.

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles: We Transport Success, Freedom and Future
As a leading manufacturer of light commercial vehicles, the #Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles brand (VWCV) is reshaping the transportation of goods, services and people in a fundamental and lasting way. Our vehicles transport construction workers, families and adventurers, bread rolls, parcels and surfboards. Every day they help countless people all over the world to do a good job, they operate as mobile workshops and they bring paramedics and police personnel to wherever they are needed.

At our sites in #Hannover (D), Poznań (PL), Września (PL) and Pacheco (ARG), around 24,000 employees produce the Transporter, Caddy, Crafter and Amarok model lines, and, as of 2022, will be producing the ID. BUZZ – the fully electric version of our iconic Bulli. Within the #Volkswagen Group, VWCV is also the lead brand for autonomous driving and for mobility offerings such as Mobility-as-a-Service and Transport-as-a-Service - areas in which we are shaping the future of mobility.

In this way, the brand is transporting the society of tomorrow with all its requirements for clean, intelligent and sustainable mobility. It is this that #Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles stands for with its brand promise: We transport success, freedom and future.