Volkswagen has introduced measures to temporarily scale back production of electric models at one of its German plants.
According to the German car maker's work council, a shift at Volkswagen's Emden plant in Lower Saxony has been cancelled for the next two weeks in a lead-up to an extended four-week summer holiday period for workers on electric vehicle lines in July and August.
Among the models affected are the ID 4 SUV and early production of the ID 7 saloon. Details of the shortening of shifts were provided by Manfred Wulff, head of the works council for the Emden plant, in response to an inquiry from the German Press Agency and an earlier article published by the North West newspaper.
While the production of combustion-engine models, including the Volkswagen Passat, continues unchanged, the factory holidays for electric vehicle line workers have been extended by one week.
Additionally, Wulff says 300 of the current 1500 temporary workers employed at Volkswagen's Emden plant will not have their contracts renewed in August 2023. Employees were informed about the reduction in electric vehicle production on Monday.
Wulff indicates demand for electric vehicles is up to 30% below originally planned production figures.
“We are experiencing strong customer reluctance in the electric vehicle sector,” he told the North West newspaper.
Wulff said production of the ID 7 saloon had originally been planned to start in July but has now been delayed to “later this year”.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Volkswagen Emden plant said: “We are confident that the plant's utilisation will increase again with the launch of the ID 7 at the end of the year".
A spokesperson for Volkswagen UK said: "The Volkswagen brand, like other car manufacturers, is currently seeing softening demand for electric cars. Reasons for this include: reduced subsidies, higher inflation and recent longer delivery times due to the shortage of parts. We are confident that demand for all-electric cars will pick up again as the year progresses. With the extensively revised ID.3 and the new ID.7, we continue to launch attractive new models.
"In the UK, delivery times for customers placing a factory order are now only around 12-15 weeks due to the significantly improved parts supply situation. Customers are also encouraged to speak to their Volkswagen Retailer for more information, as vehicles may be available even sooner from stock."
Production of the internal-combustion-engine Passat is set to cease at Emden after 46 years when the ninth-generation model arrives later this year. Volkswagen has invested around €1 billion (£858 million) in the site for electric vehicle production.
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Maybe another reason they can't shift their VW's is because they are too expenasive. The equivalent MG's cost 9K less!!
2 MASSIVE surprises here!!!!
1) BEVs aren't working out!! Who would have thought it!??? A sh1t idea actually turns out to be a REALLY sh1t idea!!
2) The Scottish (w)anchor has gone VERY quiet. Come on, Andrew1, entertain us with yet more facetious cr4p!
Where is the equivalent of my golf 7.5 estate? Even before BEV they put stupid touch controls instead of buttons, so the 8 is not on my buying list. The ID3 would be laughable if it wasn't so expensive.