After around five and a half years of all-electric vehicle production the Zwickau vehicle plant has cracked a magic barrier: This week the one millionth electric car rolled off the production line at the multi-brand site The anniversary vehicle is an ID.3 GTX Performance in Kings Red Metallic The car will be delivered to a customer from Bavaria in a few weeks at the Transparent Factory in Dresden Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Sachsen GmbH: "One million electric cars produced is a strong achievement by the workforce Despite numerous challenges in recent years the team has always delivered the models on time I would like to thank you very much for this we have set an important course for the future It is of central importance to implement our site agreement for the vehicle plant We need to make our site competitive in the coming months to ensure future investment in the plant We are currently examining promising options in promising business areas of the circular economy." Chairman of the General Works Council of Volkswagen Sachsen GmbH: "A production anniversary is always special for the workforce My thanks go to our team and their tireless efforts It was only through the hard work of our colleagues that the one million e-cars could be built here at the site Zwickau was the first plant to convert from 100 percent combustion engines to 100 percent electric mobility We have proven in the Group that we can be relied on in Saxony because we think of our customers and transformation is something we are born with we will hand over models to other locations we see great opportunities for entering the circular economy topic This would give us a second strategic pillar and once again play a pioneering role for the Group." Six electric models will be built in Zwickau for three Group brands The last combustion vehicle rolled off the assembly line on June 26 2020 – the end of an era that began in 1904 with August Horch and also included Trabant production in GDR times The starting signal for Zwickau into the all-electric era was given on 4 November 2019 with the official start of production of the ID.3 It was the Volkswagen Group's first model based on the modular electric drive matrix (MEB) a total of six vehicle start-ups were completed With the start of production of the ID.5 in January 2022 the transformation of the Zwickau vehicle plant into a purely electric multi-brand location was completed and the MEB introduction was successfully implemented 2.3 million MEB vehicles have been delivered to customers worldwide across all Group brands – this means that almost every second electric car registered by the Volkswagen Group comes from Zwickau The Volkswagen Group is the clear market leader in all-electric vehicles in Europe and achieved a market share of around 26 percent in this segment in the first quarter of 2025 Since Volkswagen took over the site in 1990 more than seven million vehicles have left the factory halls With the start of production of electric vehicles Zwickau took on a key role in the Volkswagen Group: For the first time a large car factory was completely converted to electric mobility at a cost of 1.2 billion euros The bodies for the Bentley Bentayga and the Lamborghini Urus are also manufactured in Zwickau Audi Q4 e-tron & Q4 Sportback e-tron The Volkswagen Newsroom is an open platform and offers comprehensive search options to all users If you would like to be kept informed about our press releases you can also subscribe to our media information newsletter The specified fuel consumption and emission data does not refer to a single vehicle and is not part of the offer but is only intended for comparison between different types of vehicles Additional equipment and accessories (additional components etc.) can alter relevant vehicle parameters such as weight CO2 emissions and driving performance values in addition to weather and traffic conditions and individual driving behavior Dark clouds are hanging over Zwickau in Saxony and not just because of the winter weather is particularly hard hit by the company’s plans to cut production According to the plans of VW and agreed to by the IG Metall union will be the only models still built in Zwickau from 2027 onward ID.5 and Cupra Born models are currently still produced there but these will be moved to Wolfsburg and Emden The uncertain future of the Volkswagen plant is a constant topic in the regional press “Cost-cutting measures at Volkswagen in Zwickau: Is the East losing out once again?” was the headline in the Chemnitz-based Freie Presse newspaper a few days ago The federal government’s Commissioner for Eastern Germany The plant in Zwickau is suffering the most from the cutbacks.” The Social Democratic Party (SPD) politician demanded not lip service.” 250,000 jobs in the East depend on the automotive industry The new Saxony state economics minister, Dirk Panter (Social Democrats, SPD), also said that Saxony was suffering “disproportionately” from the cuts contained in VW’s so-called “Future Contract.” Together with Saxony state Premier Michael Kretschmer (Christian Democratic Union he wanted to “speak swiftly with the VW board members” at company headquarters in Wolfsburg “We also want to enter into dialogue with the management of Audi,” Panter continued “to see whether the brand can step in more due to its history—Audi was founded in Zwickau after all.” It is not a question of distributing the agreed 35,000 job losses “fairly” between east and west Germany And this is only possible if workers at the various sites do not allow themselves to be divided and take up the fight together It is already the case that the majority of the 35,000 VW jobs that are slated to be cut will be at the western German plants in Emden and Wolfsburg while the 2,000 employees in Osnabrück face the closure of their plant in 2027 Playing one location against another is an age-old trick used by the establishment political parties and trade unions to divide workers limit resistance to fruitless protests and prevent any effective It is the same divide-and-rule strategy that the governing parties are trying to pursue permanent workers against temporary workers—all this only serves to undermine the resistance of autoworkers At the same time, a carrot is being held in front of workers’ noses with short and medium-term promises. But all this is nothing more than “dying in instalments,” as one VW worker in Wolfsburg put it recently government (federal and state) and trade union are simply passing each other the ball as they have been doing for decades within the framework of so-called “social partnership.” Whereas the class struggle used to be suppressed primarily through social compromises today workers are purposefully being demoralised and sold out The VW Zwickau-Mosel site is a perfect example of this Knowing full well that the plant will no longer be able to operate profitably with the few production lines left from 2027 they are using the prospect of recycling and the so-called circular economy as a carrot Around 1,000 jobs are to be secured by a battery recycling department The network of automotive suppliers in Saxony even sees “potential for an accelerated transformation process.” The region “must now accelerate in order to allow this small plant that Volkswagen has sown to grow and lead south-west Saxony back to economic success,” said AMZ manager Andreas Wächtler But every worker knows that when managers talk about “transformation” they are in for uncomfortable times Another carrot is the prospect of a new investor District Administrator Carsten Michaelis (CDU) brought this up for Zwickau He said that “unconventional paths” had to be taken and called for “looking for another car manufacturer.” “the entire ecosystem” of suppliers would collapse Many would have had to reorganise their production in the course of the switch to electric vehicles and in some cases make high investments They were “up to their necks in water,” said the CDU’s Michaelis Hopes for Audi were “too vague for him—like a placebo to keep the plant alive.” “There are currently no concrete plans for Chinese investors to join VW Saxony and Zwickau in particular.” There is speculation about the armaments group KNDS Deutschland coming on board According to business weekly Wirtschaftswoche the defence company had “its eye on” the VW factories in Zwickau and Salzgitter It was only on Wednesday that KNDS finalised the purchase of the former French train maker’s Alstom plant in Görlitz Of the more than 1,000 who once worked there around 350 will be able to continue at KNDS they will build tanks instead of railway carriages The sell-off of the historic Görlitz plant is a lesson in the “death by instalments” policy that management and the trade union are now pursuing in Zwickau Politicians and managers can haggle and haggle over thousands of jobs and the associated sites that are threatened Car manufacturing in Zwickau goes back around 120 years and begins with the founding of the Horch and Audi Group August Horch founded Horchwerke in Zwickau he left the company and founded Audi Automobilwerke in 1910 Both companies were reunited in Auto Union in 1932 and the plants in the east were transferred to the state-owned VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau The traditional car brands Audi and Horch were transferred to Auto Union While the old factory site in the centre of Zwickau now mainly serves as the August Horch Museum a new assembly and drive shaft plant was built in Mosel from 1979 to 1989 IG Metall already sold out the GKN drive shaft plant in 2023 with the gates being closed in 2026 and production relocated to Hungary VW’s new moves threaten to put an end to over a hundred years of automotive manufacturing traditions in Zwickau Saxony remains a centre of the automotive industry in Germany’s eastern states 44 percent are in Saxony; of the 82,500 employees there Saxony also accounts for 59 percent of the economic output of the region The VW plant in Zwickau-Mosel is one of the largest automotive sites by far alongside the new Tesla plant near Grünheide IG Metall published a detailed study “The automotive industry in eastern Germany—structure potential,” according to which “one in four industrial jobs in eastern Germany” depends on the automotive industry a management consulting company commissioned by IG Metall explains bluntly that West German car manufacturers and suppliers “took over or built new plants” in the former East Germany in order to expand their production capacities under “favourable cost conditions.” Production was often fragmented into tiny units in order to isolate and weaken the workers around a third have fewer than 50 employees and around 40 percent of employees work in companies with fewer than 250 workers due to “low vertical integration and dense supplier networks” combined with “limited development and decision-making competence,” even the larger locations such as Mosel always remained interchangeable cogs in the wheel As wages slowly rose in eastern Germany following reunification in 1990 car manufacturers continued to relocate to eastern Europe The study states: “The supply of German car plants by domestic suppliers has become less important in recent years; instead car manufacturers are increasingly importing from Eastern Europe while suppliers are exporting more and more The car plants in eastern Germany are also heavily supplied by other plants of the car manufacturers in question.” the value of all imports of supplier parts has doubled overall Imports from the new EU member states in Eastern Europe have risen particularly sharply (157 percent) and now account for half of all imports While turnover in the supplier industry has risen by 25 percent in Germany and 13 percent in Western and Southern Europe since 2008 growth in Eastern Europe has been 154 percent the former East Germany was and is little more than a stepping stone in the drive for the even cheaper wages of Eastern Europe this has also served as a lever to push down labour costs in West German locations All of this happened with the support of IG Metall which exerts great influence in the automotive industry in particular as it holds many seats on various company supervisory boards According to the German Confederation of Trade Unions (DGB) almost 60 percent of all employees in the Zwickau region were still on low and poverty wages in 2010 almost 30 percent of employees received wages and salaries that were below the official poverty wage threshold of 50 percent of the average gross income A look at the vagaries of the unemployment rate in Zwickau also shows that being employed does not necessarily protect workers and their families from poverty Unemployment fell significantly between 2000 and 2020 from 18.5 to 6 percent poverty only fell from 20 to 17 percent in the same period The introduction of capitalism into the former East Germany from 1990 onwards only meant that a small minority enjoyed the famous “blossoming landscapes” promised by Chancellor Helmut Kohl (CDU) Left Party and trade unions supported austerity in equal measure it is the far-right that has been able to profit from the social crisis that has been ongoing for over 20 years the neo-Nazi German National Party (NPD) entered the Saxony state parliament with 9 percent of the vote and for the first time won a seat on the Zwickau city council the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) took its place the AfD tripled its share of the vote at all levels in the Zwickau constituency from around 10 to 30 percent which emerged from the former Stalinist governing party in East Germany plummeted from 21 to 3 percent and the SPD from 15 to 6 percent in the last state elections an anti-migrant split-off from the Left Party The fact that the AfD has nothing to offer automotive workers is most clearly demonstrated by its effusive admiration for Elon Musk The multibillionaire is currently responsible for implementing massive public sector cutbacks in Donald Trump’s administration and is planning mass redundancies worldwide Zwickau does not only have fascistic traditions the former workers’ parties—SPD and Communist Party (KPD)—held the majority on Zwickau’s town council Saxony in particular was a cradle of socialist workers’ parties Wilhelm Liebknecht and August Bebel founded the Saxony People’s Party in Chemnitz This merged with the Social Democratic Labour Party founded in Eisenach in 1869 no longer has anything to do with these traditions Workers must once again take up their own class-struggle traditions and respond to the attacks of the ruling elites with their own counter-offensive Volkswagen and the labour union IG Metall have reached a compromise and VW will reduce production capacity in Germany by more than 700,000 vehicles—including electric cars VW finally achieved the desired agreement before Christmas If the wage dispute had extended over the holidays the result could have been widespread strikes in the new year the compromise presented by Volkswagen and labour union IG Metall on Friday evening is significant: more than 35,000 jobs will be cut by 2030 When former VW Group CEO Herbert Diess suggested reducing 30,000 positions in autumn 2021 such a high number is part of a compromise—and might have been even higher without the lengthy negotiations Volkswagen AG says it is positioning itself competitively for the future With the collective agreement on the in-house wage agreement the company is creating conditions for a €1.5 billion annual financial labour cost reduction by 2030 as well as agreed structural measures through capacity reductions and development cost savings are expected to result in cost effects exceeding €4 billion annually in the medium term this agreement will help the Volkswagen passenger car brand achieve its profitability target in the medium term has been adopted as part of the compromise “a pay increase of just over five per cent—similar to agreements in the metal and electrical industries—will be paid into a fund in two stages rather than employees’ accounts.” This fund will be used to finance flexible reductions in working hours for some employees only one department has been specifically identified VW announced that “to invest more in innovations the Technical Development department will be reorganised the competitiveness of Technical Development will be sustainably strengthened.” As part of this restructuring approximately 4,000 jobs will be cut by 2030 VW has confirmed information from Der Spiegel that VW will reduce “technical capacity for building 734,000 cars per year” in its German plants That nearly matches the capacity of the Wolfsburg main factory To illustrate VW’s overcapacity: although Wolfsburg is designed to produce about 750,000 cars annually only around 490,000 Volkswagen vehicles were produced there in 2023 A number of agreed model shifts between factories were detailed in IG Metall’s statement. As leaked on Thursday the Zwickau electric vehicle plant is also affected: the VW ID.3 and its sister model Cupra Born which are currently built on the same line The ID.4 will be entirely relocated to Emden with a facelift (currently built at both locations) leaving Zwickau with only one production line and only the Audi Q4 e-tron model In Wolfsburg, two new models will be added; however, the iconic Golf (as a combustion engine) will be manufactured “at another location” in future, according to the union. The company confirms that the Puebla plant in Mexico, the frontrunner the Golf and Golf Variant will be built there the main plant will be prepared for the electric SSP platform—with the electric ID.Golf In Emden, the entire ID.4 range will be manufactured alongside the ID.7 and ID.7 Tourer. Additionally, a decision will be made in 2027 regarding the allocation of another model. In Hanover, the production of the T7 Multivan and ID. Buzz will continue—“thus, the relocation plans of the management have been thwarted,” writes IG Metall “specific measures to sustainably reduce factory costs” have been agreed upon One model that neither the union nor IG Metall has mentioned is the ID.5 It is no longer being produced in Zwickau and is not listed among the models from Emden This SUV coupé could thus be discontinued—though this is not yet confirmed According to information from Handelsblatt the former Karmann plant “could go to a defence or recycling company.” For now production of the T-Roc Cabrio has been extended until 2027 a buyer must be found—or the discussions will reignite Zwickau remains operational under the terms of the compromise. However, the models that have been moved out cast doubt on its long-term prospects. With the ID.3, Born, ID.4, ID.5, and Q4 e-tron, the plant was already underutilised; the night shift was cancelled a year ago, and all temporary contracts were recently confirmed to be ending Zwickau will likely struggle to remain profitable the plant’s success will depend on demand for just one model range VW’s management had targeted up to three plants – the smaller sites in Dresden and Osnabrück were early contenders for closure a larger vehicle or components plant would also have been included Kassel has also received further commitments for electric mobility components the second block of the PowerCo cell factory is no longer up for discussion – a decision on when battery cells will begin production in the second block will be made no later than Planning Round 74 in 2026 the agreement is an important signal for the future viability of the Volkswagen brand and the components plants,” said CEO Oliver Blume the company has set decisive steps for its future in terms of costs The board and management are participating disproportionately.” we have set ourselves three priorities: reducing overcapacity in Germany and achieving competitive development costs,” said VW Brand Chief Thomas Schäfer “The negotiations have led to viable results in all three areas we are able to largely close the gap in our performance programme.” and our in-house wage agreement is secured in the long term we have fought for a rock-solid solution under the most challenging economic conditions,” said Daniela Cavallo Chairwoman of Volkswagen AG’s Works Council “Although there are collective concessions beyond monthly incomes these are offset by the solidarity-driven retention of all sites with future prospects a new job security plan until the end of 2030 the assurance for the management that at Volkswagen changes against the will of the workforce are doomed to fail.” The Handelsblatt describes the deal as a “breakthrough” for Group CEO Oliver Blume “as further steps for the critical planning round in the group can now be taken.” The current planning round was originally scheduled for November but was postponed due to the wage dispute VW allocates investments for the next five years and determines the distribution of models across its approximately 100 factories worldwide key production commitments have already been made ahead of the planning round I agree with the Privacy policy electrive has been following the development of electric mobility with journalistic passion and expertise since 2013 we offer comprehensive coverage of the highest quality — as a central platform for the rapid development of this technology which has a proud history in the country’s mighty automobile industry there are fears about the economic and political fallout which is now facing a mortal threat from downsizing at Volkswagen the city’s centre is marred by beautiful but abandoned old buildings bearing glum witness to the sector’s boom-and-bust cycles The ornate art nouveau facades of the historic town centre now filled with discount bakery chains and doner kebab shops whisper of a glamorous bygone era of endless expansion “Just like whole regions of Great Britain were shaped by coal mining – here it is the strong connection to the automobile,” says Randy Kämpf curator at the local museum tracing the 120-year history of Zwickau as the region’s motor city “If in the end the jobs are no longer there Zwickau, west of Dresden on the Czech border, became home in 2020 to VW’s first plant dedicated entirely to producing electric vehicles it was also a €1.2bn (£1bn) roll of the dice that may sour dramatically if the gamble For the first time in the 87 years since it was founded under the Nazis to produce an affordable “people’s car”, VW intends to close at least three factories in its home country and axe tens of thousands of jobs Union leaders have threatened a “hot winter” of strikes from December The company has declined to say which plants could be on the chopping block, but Zwickau is frequently mentioned, given its size and inextricable links with the underperforming electromobility division says her guesthouse has welcomed many temporary workers during the plant’s transformation She says a closure would “destroy the mood” in town forcing the closure of countless restaurants describing VW’s tribulations as “a sad story in general for Germany” City mayor Constance Arndt says she and leaders in other affected communities are talking to Volkswagen’s management and she is making the case to keep the Zwickau plant running “VW has said e-mobility is the future,” says Arndt whose official car since 2021 has been a fully electric Volkswagen ID.4 the company needs the most modern plant of its kind Plus the employees have shown that they can handle transformation and make good products.” After a 15-minute drive north to the Mosel district twin white smokestacks loom into view above the familiar blue VW logo on the main production facility by far the largest of the three Saxony plants The state-of-the-art site boasts a concentration of EV charging stations in the staff parking lots unseen even in Germany’s urban centres Solar panels gleam from the roofs in the autumn sunshine as giant wind turbines cast long shadows over the factory grounds three to four others work in components jobs in the region dependent on the site All now have at least some cause for concern about their future as the shock news from the company’s headquarters struck thousands of workers massed at the factory gate blowing whistles to vent their anger and rally support for each other while bringing the assembly line to a halt who manages a team of 10 men and four women called the spontaneous demonstration “beautiful” he has enjoyed the fruits of steady employment in manufacturing Germany’s vital but ailing industrial backbone – buying a house starting a family and later seeing his son follow in his footsteps at the plant “I’ve worked here for nearly 30 years and thought I’d ride it out to retirement,” he says how am I supposed to seek a new direction in the job market Regardless of how it plays out for Zwickau Teller is angry that the bombshell is going to detonate somewhere in Germany’s VW network “We see ourselves as one big family – you don’t wish that on anyone.” His parents are “worried sick” about his family’s future but Teller says he is sleeping OK resigned that “there’s nothing I can do” to avert what unions have called a potential “tsunami” in Zwickau But other employees approached on the factory grounds are less composed becoming tearful when asked how they see their future with VW Curator Randy Kämpf stands next to communist East Germany's Trabant car at the August Horch Museum which traces Zwickau’s history in the automobile industry Photograph: Deborah Cole/The GuardianSome suspect that management’s silence on where the axe may fall is a tactic designed to spread terror through the workforce Others compare the creeping sense of abandonment with the economic shock after national reunification in 1990 which triggered waves of deindustrialisation and a mass exodus of easterners to the richer west Zwickau’s population reached its apex of 140,000 under communism on par with the national rate but slightly below the Saxony state average Volkswagen, which is still profitable but suffering from shrinking margins has insisted negotiations with labour representatives are continuing Deputy works council chief Kristin Oder predicts tough negotiations under Germany’s time-honoured system of co-determination in which employees and executives make key decisions based on compromise But Oder argues workers should not bear the brunt of catastrophic mistakes by the management “It feels like we’re being made to choose between the plague and cholera,” the 31-year-old says “Either a plant closes or we have to accept massive sacrifices for the workforce in the area of pay that would cut to the bone.” riding on a pledge of “respect” for hard-working Germans But his fractious government is struggling to respond to a crisis that has made Europe’s top economy the worst performers among industrialised nations At the start of the year, Berlin cut EV subsidies to address budget shortfalls, hobbling the domestic market and giving a boon to cheaper Chinese models even before the EU imposed extra tariffs on imports touching off a potential trade war with China the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has successfully seized on the internal combustion engine as a touchstone of prosperity being sacrificed on the altar of Green-voting urban elites The AfD triumphed in local elections in June and came in a very close second in the Saxony state poll in September as when the fourth annual LGBT Pride parade was held in August and drew hundreds of right-wing extremist counter-protesters Nearly 500 police officers were needed to keep the peace says he fears a “rise of the political extremes” if VW no longer provides an anchor in a community that has seen its share of upheaval over the last century But he adds that the history of Zwickau and other regions rocked by industrial revolutions also offer countless examples of openness to change and resilience This is the archive of The Observer up until 21/04/2025 The Observer is now owned and operated by Tortoise Media Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf has felt a close kinship to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ 19th-century pioneers ever since his early days as Church member in eastern Germany in the mid-1900s That kinship is a part of not only his spiritual ancestry but that of all Latter-day Saints worldwide However, each has a share of one’s own spiritual heritage and journey, whether from Utah or Europe, or from Idaho or India. “We are all pioneers in our own sphere and circumstance,” Elder Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has taught His “pioneering” included him and his family losing all material belongings twice in seven years before his 12th birthday as the six-member Uchtdorf family crossed war-torn central Europe in search of physical and political refuge discovering spiritual refuge through the restored gospel of Jesus Christ “Connecting the dots” is the phrase Elder Uchtdorf used repeatedly — connecting periods of time wide stretches of geography and life’s milestone events — in recounting experiences from a recent four-week assignment in the Europe Central Area Although the early years of my life were challenging because of the war and its associated worries Besides ministering to members and missionaries retraced his steps from his birth town to crossing into Germany as a child refugee And the Uchtdorfs revisited other German cities such as Frankfurt — where Sister Uchtdorf as a young girl joined the Church and later as a teenager first met young Dieter Uchtdorf — as well as Berlin all holding memories and special meanings for family The Uchtdorfs found themselves in native lands with key anniversaries coming in 2024 — 75 years since Elder Uchtdorf’s baptism 25 years since moving from Germany to Salt Lake City these are amazing points in our personal history,’” he said Elder Uchtdorf also represented the Church with civic and religious leaders in presenting humanitarian projects and donated service hours spent time with the Europe Central Area presidency and participated in sacrament meetings as well as in meetings with members youth and new members.The Uchtdorfs also paid respects to the deceased stopping at the Nazi German Auschwitz concentration camp near Katowice Poland; the former Plötzensee Prison site in Berlin where 17-year-old German Latter-day Saint Helmuth Hubener was executed for his resistance to the Nazi regime; and the Dresden grave of Latter-day Saint missionary Joseph Ott who died in 1896 about a month after arriving in Germany Elder Uchtdorf spent his first four years in Ostrava born into a German family of his parents and three older siblings they were living in a large gray building near the town’s center later moving to another home before having to flee to Zwickau on one of the last trains to leave for the west in late 1944 as the war’s front line approached Elder and Sister Uchtdorf made their first return to his birthplace as a General Authority Seventy serving in what then constituted the Europe East Area the city’s small branch consisted of two sister members and two missionaries they again returned to Ostrava — where the Church now has a functioning ward and where the Czech/Slovak Mission had gathered for a mission conference and service project with the Uchtdorfs the Uchtdorfs revisited some of the same personal sites including the second home’s second level and balcony where Elder Uchtdorf has recounted being a young child getting his head stuck in between the railing’s bars Elder Uchtdorf reflected on what living in — and then leaving — Ostrava meant if the war would have come out different — we never would have had to flee to Zwickau “We never would have learned about the gospel “I don’t think that the Lord had prepared all this,” he continued We could have gone somewhere else — our choices are still valid the rebuilt city that was all but destroyed in the extensive February 1945 firebombing of the city toward the end of World War II “I saw the bombers fly across — we went to our bunkers because we thought that maybe they were coming for us,” recalled Elder Uchtdorf 60 miles (95 kilometers) southwest of Dresden after having immigrated as refugees from Ostrava in the harsh winter of 1944-45 just weeks before “We came through Dresden because it was the center of flow of refugees coming from the east.” Recalling photos of a once-leveled Dresden to the current view Elder Uchtdorf said he was touched “to see how it is blooming and beautiful how human creativity and desire to do the right thing can change the world — can change it out of ruins into a beautiful place again.” He expanded his mental perspective from Dresden to the surrounding areas of eastern Germany and into Poland — once-vibrant areas of Church stability where lands later were devastated and populations diminished by WWII and the Cold War The Church today is seeing increasing membership and strong membership; it also has the Freiberg temple the first house of the Lord in a Communist country when dedicated in 1985 “To see it now,” said Elder Uchtdorf of the area ”and how it blooms again in beauty and how the people are peaceful with each other — there is reconciliation you see the effects of reconciliation — which is nothing else than practical repentance and forgiveness.” I have a deep affection for the missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Zwickau sits some 260 miles (420 kilometers) west from Ostrava in a direct-line distance — but modern-day trains don’t travel a straight-line route the Uchtdorfs joined grandparents — and it was a grandmother standing in a long line to purchase post-war scarce products who met an elderly Latter-day Saint woman who invited the grandmother to join her for Sunday church services His grandmother and parents accepted the invitation and attended worship services in a small not taking the children because of the uncertainty of how they would be received the Uchtdorf parents brought theirs the next week — and every week as they continued learning about the gospel of Jesus Christ and progressing toward baptism parents and older siblings were baptized late one afternoon in an outdoor swimming area It was not far from where we lived and where we had experienced some pretty sad things,” Elder Uchtdorf remembered adding: “The family was dressed in white and was baptized there It was a very emotional experience for me to go back to that place.” He also returned to the public swimming pool where he was baptized at age 8 — a pool since restored What he couldn’t return to was the villa used as a meetinghouse in the late 1940s to replace the small house with the center area remodeled to serve as a chapel The villa was leveled by the Communist regime not long after the Uchtdorfs and others fled Zwickau for West Germany in 1952 Elder Uchtdorf remembered the villa’s pump organ and a trio of beautiful stained-glass windows including one of a kneeling Joseph Smith in the Sacred Grove and another of the Savior He had long wondered what happened to the windows he learned that a woman — a former city mayor — had obtained the Joseph Smith art-glass piece and had it installed in her home the Uchtdorfs were allowed to visit the home with Elder Uchtdorf again able to lay eyes on what for him as a young boy had been an inspirational piece “It was a privilege and honor to be assigned to pump air into the organ while the organist was playing the music,” recalled Elder Uchtdorf saying he felt motivated to pump while looking at the stained-glass windows He remembers being inspired by seeing the visual depiction listening to the hymns of the Restoration and serving others those were moments when I knew the Savior was real and that Joseph was real.” when as a teenager Dieter Uchtdorf would meet a young convert by the name of Harriet Reich While the Uchtdorfs were the product of member-missionary efforts Harriet Reich and her widowed mother and sister were converts through direct missionary contact Elder Uchtdorf has often spoken of the “fourth floor, last door” efforts of the full-time missionaries finding the Reich mother and daughters Disillusioned in religion because of the horrors of fighting in the war Sister Uchtdorf’s father had passed away less than a half-year before Her mother not only read the brief passages the missionaries marked for her in the Book of Mormon but had also finished the entire book before their return Her earliest testimony was steeped in the importance of temples and the covenants made there for eternal marriages and families If Elder Uchtdorf could go back in time and reassure his younger self, what would he tell young Dieter of age 4 or 8 or 11? Pausing briefly to ponder and check his emotions, Elder Uchtdorf answered: “‘Don’t be afraid. Trust there’s a loving Heavenly Father that will guide you.’” Does he remember being afraid? “Yes, a lot.” As fellow sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, we have the responsibility and opportunity to promote peace and... Those past fears include traveling during a terribly cold winter on an unheated train with frozen-over windows. “We were riding in a refrigerator, so to speak,” he said, recalling an older brother 12 years his senior who was dealing with nightmares and sleepwalking. “We had to watch him that he didn’t leave the train while the train was moving.” And Elder Uchtdorf has often told the story of his mother, who briefly left the children at a train stop to find food and warm drink for them, only to get turned around and start panicking, thinking she was lost and separated from her family. “It was always the fear to survive — that was very basic,” he recalled, including times of extreme hunger, particularly for his parents, who sacrificed for their children. He returned to thoughts of self-counsel: “That is what I would say: ‘Don’t be afraid. Don’t fear. There is something better for you. So trust Heavenly Father, trust Him. There is a God in heaven; He is a wonderful Father in Heaven.’” discovering spiritual refuge through the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.","type":"text"},{"_id":"3YI376W4YBGBTLKGXHRQWCHAEY","additional_properties":{"_id":1721161325591},"content":"“Connecting the dots” is the phrase Elder Uchtdorf used repeatedly — connecting periods of time wide stretches of geography and life’s milestone events — in recounting experiences from a recent four-week assignment in the Europe Central Area.","type":"text"},{"type":"oembed_response","subtype":"facebook-post","_id":"PLXCX7ZZCNC2VOZPHT5ADKELUU","raw_oembed":{"author_name":"Dieter F Uchtdorf","author_url":"https://www.facebook.com/dieterf.uchtdorf","provider_url":"https://www.facebook.com","provider_name":"Facebook","html":"\n<\/script>Although the early years of my life were challenging because of the war and its associated worries As fellow sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father we have the responsibility and opportunity to promote peace and.. By: Charlie Sternberg Use of this constitutes acceptance of our privacy policy The material on this site may not be reproduced except with the prior written permission of Rodman Media SIDE-LINE The sold-out Calva y Nada concert from 19th of October 2024 (in the Zwickau based club Seilerstrasse) will be released as “Live @ Club Seilerstrasse Zwickau” on double vinyl via emmobiz Records The release will be out in 2 vinyl formats on 14th of march 2025 including the 2 unreleased tracks “Rotes Meer” and “La Pura Mierda” The release is now available in pre-order via emmobiz Records as a clear edition with slipmat and as a transparent red marbled version emerged in 1990 under the direction of Constantin Warter “El Peste Perverso Lleva Mi Peluca” showcased an experimental sound that laid the foundation for Calva y Nada’s distinctive style the album drew inspiration from the writings of a Calvinist secret correspondent in 16th-century hyper-Catholic Spain Calva y Nada released “Días Felizes” through Hyperium Records This album featured a blend of German and Spanish lyrics delivering a pure and raw techno sound that stood apart from the prevalent EBM trend For the 1993 album “Monologe Eines Baumes” Breñal’s philosophical explorations thematically delved into the symbolic sentimental life of a tree from birth to its transformation into furniture Calva y Nada continued to produce music characterized by heavily orchestrated arrangements and experimental harmonies with lyrics often reflecting Breñal’s philosophy and religious beliefs The band disbanded in 1998 after the final release “Schlaf“ More people are reading Side-Line Magazine than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast we haven’t put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as open as we can - and we refuse to add annoying advertising So you can see why we need to ask for your help Side-Line’s independent journalism takes a lot of time But we do it because we want to push the artists we like and who are equally fighting to survive you can support Side-Line Magazine – and it only takes a minute The donations are safely powered by Paypal Electronic Bodies - Nightside Sessions by Shane Aungst Electronic Bodies - Session 1 by Various Artists Electronic Resistance - Reconstruction by Various Artists Electronic Resistance - A Darkwave / Post-Punk Compilation From The Ukrainian Underground by Various Artists Yesterday's labour agreement between the collective bargaining parties leads to new arrangements for the plants this means that some of the Group's electric models will be produced at other plants in the future The plant in Zwickau will therefore lose two of the six electric models that have been produced there to date Audi Q4 e-tron and its Sportback variant will remain in Zwickau The press release from the VW Group does not explicitly state whether this also applies to the ID.4 and ID.5 VW ID.4 (left) and ID.5 have also been built in Zwickau to date Zwickau will "focus on one production line" the other for the ID.5 and the two Q4 models The ID.4 as the sixth model can be built on both lines The first line has apparently been cancelled and the focus is now on the second This presumably means that the second line will only be used for overflow production of the ID.4 from 2027 The ID.5 is not mentioned at all in the press release The ID.4 has been built in Emden since May 2022 - initially as surplus production it had a 286 PS motor and a larger touchscreen which is due to be launched in early 2025) will remain at the commercial vehicle plant in Hanover An electric version of the VW Transporter will be launched at the beginning of 2025 - as a low-cost variant alongside the ID The change in plant allocation for electric cars is of course just one detail of the resolutions agreed between the Group and the trade union after 70 hours of marathon negotiations One of the most important results is probably that none of the German plants will be closed and that there will be no compulsory redundancies until 2030 as IG Metall chief negotiator Thorsten Gröger said at the press conference the future of the Osnabrück plant is apparently only secured until 2027 What is to become of the plant after that is still unclear 35,000 jobs will be cut and employees will forgo part of their profit-sharing and additional holiday pay the agreed wage increase of 5.5 per cent will not be paid out but will instead be used to cover the costs of the job cuts labour costs are expected to fall by €1.5 billion per year costs are expected to be reduced by around €4 billion per year production of the VW Golf will move from Wolfsburg to the Puebla plant in Mexico in 2027 but is unlikely to be beneficial for the image of the model and VW - after all Production capacity at the German VW plants will be reduced by 734,000 units The Group is not disclosing how high this was previously but the production capacity of the main plant is expected to be 800,000 units VW's production facilities are not being fully utilised due to the current weak demand for electric cars Reduced production capacity and a reduction in labour costs will counteract this We will see in the coming years whether this is enough to secure the future of the Group It will certainly also depend on the development of the electric car market and the attractiveness of future VW electric cars 2026 Jeep Compass Unveiled: Hybrid or EV With Up to 375 HP Volkswagen Is Making Less Money Because It's Selling More EVs Lotus Emira With Yellow Exhaust Tips Pays Tribute to an F1 GOAT Volkswagen Could Give Ford More Reskinned Cars The Cadillac Celestiq Will Be as Rare as a Bugatti The 2025 Volkswagen Golf R Is An Everyday Super-Hatch: Review Germany —  Volkswagen’s state-of-the-art plant in this tidy eastern German city once symbolized the country’s bright manufacturing future it’s fertile territory for Germany’s rising far right which sees in the plant’s myriad troubles — and rising fury among its workers facing job cuts — abundant political opportunity “We want Volkswagen to pursue a policy that is actually market-oriented and not a planned economy,” said Lars Bochmann a local politician in the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party who sits on the plant’s works council “We experienced that here when it was East Germany,” he added referring to the central planning of the former communist state Bochmann has worked at the Zwickau plant for nearly three decades before being elected by workers to represent them in 2022 VW has gone from a symbol of German manufacturing might to one embodiment of the country’s economic malaise VW announced a deal with union representatives to cut 35,000 jobs over the next five years to stave off considerably more painful measures VW had threatened to close factories in Germany for the first time in the company’s long history Bochmann is in the vanguard of a concerted AfD effort to seize on growing dissatisfaction among workers at VW and also in the automobile sector and German commerce more broadly The party’s vehicle for this is a far-right organization called Zentrum which describes itself as an “alternative labor movement.” Zentrum’s goal is to compete for the allegiance of workers in prominent trade unions like IG Metall and Ver.di which have deep links to the center-left Social Democratic Party Should the AfD make big inroads with traditionally left-wing union voters or as Bochmann put it: “We are fighting in local politics The plant in Zwickau was VW’s first to only produce electric vehicles representing the carmaker’s effort to transition away from the combustion engine and compete with United States and Chinese brands for the future of the automobile But Bochmann and his Zentrum colleagues blame precisely this move — VW’s focus on electric vehicles and government subsidies to encourage their production — for the company’s decline As workers across Germany become increasingly unnerved by mass industrial layoffs a two-year economic contraction wrought by high energy costs and drop in global demand for its exports Bochmann sees a golden opportunity for Zentrum to spread the message workers only spoke to us behind closed doors dining on sausage and taking furtive puffs from his vape in a restaurant on Zwickau’s central square “We are on a path and hope that this will eventually bear fruit politically so that we can leave this vale of tears again.” It was a moment of celebration and a source of pride when German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier visited the Zwickau plant in the summer of 2023 to cement its status as a great hope for the country’s economy This is “a city that reflects the major developments in automotive engineering like no other place in Germany,” he told workers “I have great respect for all those who are helping to restructure our economy.” Things haven’t worked out as hoped. Two thousand fixed-term posts were cut at the Zwickau plant last year. Output is to be halved from 2027 as part of a major restructuring announced by Volkswagen as it tries to get a grip on its deteriorating finances Production of four of six electric vehicle models made at the plant is to be relocated to two other German VW factories The plant’s troubles have a variety of causes — including flagging growth in electric vehicle sales and increased competition from China the German government cut an electric vehicle subsidy program Even those workers who don’t believe Zentrum provides an answer to their problems are sorely disappointed “It feels like a personal defeat,” said Carsten Friedrich the head of assembly at the plant,” as he strolled past workers and robots — which employees refer to as “Robbies” — assembling ID.3s the company’s first mass-market electric car “This is one of the deepest negative cuts I’ve experienced in 30 years of professional life at VW.” who zipped around the plant in an electric car “That’s hard for our people and creates dissatisfaction and The AfD sees an opportunity to strip away more of those union members particularly in Germany’s troubled automobile sector “Zentrum does not have a large number of works council members overall but it has focused on key companies,” said Klaus Dörre a sociology professor at the University of Jena “They have deliberately selected the automotive industry because it is the heart of organized labor relations Their main argument is that works councils in big car companies are part of the globalist elites and are pursuing globalization against the interests of the German people and the German workers.”  Hilburger attributed his involvement in the band to the “allure of the forbidden.” Hilburger has in the past called accusations of extremism part of a “smear campaign” by IG Metall and “its dirty allies in the media and politics.” the AfD put Zentrum on an “incompatibility list” of organizations too extreme to work with But as the AfD’s extreme-right flank grew in influence the head of the AfD in the state of Thuringia and one of the party’s most extreme leaders defended Zentrum during a speech at a 2022 party conference “Political hegemony is based on cultural hegemony and we will never achieve cultural hegemony via the parliamentary route alone,” he said meant saying “yes” to Zentrum and other “citizens’ movements.” we are nothing and will not break through.” After that party members voted to remove Zentrum from their incompatibility list Since then, the organization has steadily grown, expanding into other sectors including gastronomy and health care. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Zentrum actively recruited among hospital workers skeptical of vaccine mandates for health care professionals, according to a report in Die Zeit The AfD isn’t the first far-right party to push for the working class vote far-right leader Marine Le Pen has won over many workers who formerly supported far-left parties by coopting economic policies of the left and the restoration of energy sources like cheap Russian gas “Everything that is energy-intensive — aluminum because these dunderheads in Berlin have simply put ideology before reality,” said Matthias Moosdorf an AfD parliamentarian from the city of Zwickau Other unions actively warn employees to resist Zentrum arguing that the organization doesn’t truly have their interests in mind because Zentrum isn’t an official trade union under German law it’s not allowed to negotiate wage agreements “The common thread running through Zentrum’s policy is that the main enemy is always IG Metall and not the capital side,” said Lukas Hezel who works for DGB and is responsible for educating union members about Zentrum “It really hardly ever happens that they enter into any kind of conflict with management or take a stand against the management.” Zentrum has been able to expand its presence In a works council election in January at the VW Zwickau plant an “alternative list” headed by Bochmann doubled its presence on the works council from two to four members a small victory in its campaign to chip away at the dominance of IG Metall It’s no surprise that Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s SPD chose the central German city of Wolfsburg for the party’s official election campaign kickoff event The city is home to VW’s headquarters and largest car-manufacturing plant in the world with its four towering smokestacks looming over the city like cathedral spires It remains one of the SPD’s dwindling heartlands to the dominance of left-leaning trade unions among the plant’s 70,000 workers When Scholz strode onto a stage for the campaign event not far from the VW plant on a dreary January day the crowd greeted him with polite applause He then took credit for steering the German economy through troubled times with a war in Ukraine driving up energy costs “When everyone thought that a 10-year economic crisis was coming to Germany that factories would be shut down forever,” he said “We made sure that it didn’t turn out that way.” VW’s labor chief and a member of IG Metall who was at the center of the negotiations between the carmaker and the union to reach the restructuring deal that warded off plant closures “I would particularly like to emphasize that SPD politicians provided the greatest support by far,” she said who contacted me personally several times to accompany me during this time … I would never have dreamed before that so much support would really come.” But for Cavallo and Scholz, there may be little cause for celebration as planned job cuts at VW take effect over the next years. The SPD is already polling a distant third nationally With no end in sight to Germany’s economic troubles VW’s deal with unions to avoid plant closures in the country may only prove to be a temporary reprieve Outside the event hall where center-left politicians and trade union members praised one another even in this bastion of the SPD and traditional unions At a bar across the street from the entrance to the VW factory one afternoon a grizzled metalworker who works at the plant sipped coffee and took drags from his cigarette said he was a member of IG Metall and longtime SPD voter the party and the government under Scholz had abandoned the workers by going “green “They killed Germany,” he said of Scholz and his SPD-led government Friedrich Merz presides over a coalition of crumbling mainstream parties Germany’s junior coalition partner hands key ministries to familiar faces — and springs a few surprises Chinese President Xi Jinping is among the leaders set to attend the Victory Day Parade in Moscow The final phase of the election campaign was dominated by Trump’s trade war and the cost of living Essential digital access to quality FT journalism on any device Complete digital access to quality FT journalism with expert analysis from industry leaders Complete digital access to quality analysis and expert insights complemented with our award-winning Weekend Print edition Terms & Conditions apply Discover all the plans currently available in your country See why over a million readers pay to read the Financial Times Following the agreement to the wage dispute that was reached shortly before Christmas it was clear that Volkswagen's EV plant in Zwickau would have to give up some model series only the Audi Q4 e-tron will come from Zwickau but the plant's future is secure - or so it seemed But Volkswagen is already considering other options there are concrete discussions about withdrawing the Audi Q4 e-tron from Zwickau in the first half of the 2030s “It means that at least the vehicles destined for the important North American market could be built at Volkswagen’s US plant in Chattanooga from the next decade,” the article states If “at least” the North American models will no longer be built in Zwickau it raises the question of what will happen to the vehicles for the other markets – demand is currently not so high that it would make sense to produce the model at two locations Audi’s statement on the information is also unlikely to provide relief in Zwickau: an Audi spokesperson told Der Spiegel that various scenarios are currently being examined The “Christmas truce” between VW management and the works council met some of the demands of both sides – billions were saved but – notably for the works council – no plants were officially closed it quickly became apparent that in the case of Osnabrück (a buyer was to be sought there) and Dresden (production of the ID.3 will end but the site will be kept “with third parties”) Doubts about the compromise also quickly arose around Zwickau: Five models are currently built on two lines – the ID.3 and Cupra Born on one All VW models and the Born will be relocated to other plants starting in 2027 Zwickau will shrink to one line and one model unspecified projects relating to the circular economy will be located in Zwickau which was already considered to be underutilised with five models can be profitable with just one model series Zwickau will then also be dependent on demand for just one model Zwickau will have no means of compensating for the volume with another model VW already builds the ID.4 for the US market at its US plant in Chattanooga – in other words greater synergies in Chattanooga than in Zwickau if two electric SUVs could be built there on a shared platform in the future Especially as there have been repeated discussions about building vehicles from other Group brands in Chattanooga – but this has not yet been decided it is at least certain that there will be a successor generation of the Q4 e-tron The usual model cycle after the 2021 premiere was set to end in 2028 or 2029 If a relocation in the first half of the 2030s is on the table it will likely affect the second generation – presumably no longer based on the MEB the compromise means that Volkswagen employees in Zwickau will also be included in the VW in-house collective agreement this was only the case for employees at the plants in Lower Saxony The in-house agreement also means that the workers in Zwickau are protected from redundancies by the recently extended job security scheme – at least until the end of 2030 The timing of the discussion about the relocation in the first half of the 2030s could thus be deliberate spiegel.de (paywall; in German) electrive has been following the development of electric mobility with journalistic passion and expertise since 2013. As the industry's leading trade media, we offer comprehensive coverage of the highest quality — as a central platform for the rapid development of this technology. With news, background information, driving reports, interviews, videos and advertising messages. marking its first closure in decades as it looks to cut costs according to the head of its works council with entire departments facing closure or relocation Europe’s biggest carmaker also operates another nine factories in Germany “All German VW plants are affected by these plans None of them are safe,” Cavallo said during the event It had provided protection against layoffs through 2029 Layoffs can now begin as soon as June 2025 maybe two” years to slash spending and adjust output to match demand Volkswagen executives are scheduled to meet with the IG Metall trade union later this week to negotiate on a new collective bargaining deal Plans underline European carmakers’ problems in switching from petrol and diesel vehicles to electric models Volkswagen is considering shutting two German factories, in what would be the carmaker’s first closures ever in its home country, as it struggles with the transition away from fossil fuels. The Wolfsburg-based manufacturer on Monday informed its works council, which represents employees, that it was looking at closing “at least one larger vehicle manufacturing plant and one component factory in Germany” in order to find cost savings worth billions of euros. The VW proposals underline the difficulties traditional European carmakers are having in switching from profitable but polluting petrol and diesel cars to cleaner but currently less profitable electric vehicles. Read moreEuropean and US carmakers are also under increasing pressure particularly from Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers which have lower costs and higher profit margins The EU has announced additional tariffs ranging from 17.4% to 37.6% on Chinese imports arguing that the companies have benefited from heavy and unfair state subsidies such is the cost advantage that many Chinese manufacturers may still be able to sell cars profitably in Europe said: “The European automotive industry is in a very demanding and serious situation The economic environment became even tougher and new competitors are entering the European market Germany in particular as a manufacturing location is falling further behind in terms of competitiveness Volkswagen controls its eponymous brand as well as Audi It said in July that it was considering closing an Audi factory in Belgium – its first proposed European factory closure and the first for the group globally in 40 years closure of a factory in the mighty German automotive industry would represent a big strategic turn for the company and would be highly politically controversial Germany’s economy has been dancing on the edge of technical recession for nearly two years a backdrop weighing heavily on the car industry just as it looks for the cash to build new electric cars Fears of Volkswagen factory closures add to pressure on the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, over the ailing economy and the rise of the far right after the parties in the country’s ruling coalition lost an election in the German state of Thuringia to Alternative für Deutschland It was the first time a state election had been won by a far-right party since the Nazi period The VW works council said all German factories under the group could be at risk Free daily newsletterGet set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning The carmaker is also considering a U-turn on previous investment commitments including a compact electric SUV that was meant to secure production at VW’s main plant at Wolfsburg from 2026 onwards and the Trinity saloon models planned for another factory in Zwickau the chief executive of the Volkswagen brand said: “Plant closures at vehicle production and component sites can no longer be ruled out.” said it would mount “fierce resistance” against the proposed closures and accused the carmaker’s board of failure “Instead of making one-sided savings at the expense of the workforce we now need a strategic boost for the actual weaknesses: product a lead negotiator covering VW for the union IG Metall said it was an “irresponsible plan that shakes the foundations of Volkswagen and poses a massive threat to jobs and sites” but highly dangerous – it risks destroying the heart of Volkswagen,” he added saying the union would fight with all its strength to protect jobs Editor’s note: To support elders quorum and Relief Society classes the Church News is publishing lesson resources on messages from October 2024 general conference These are meant to be a starting point and not a lesson plan Why must Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice be at the root of our testimony How can we maintain faith when facing unanswered questions Why might Korihor’s blasphemous preaching have been unpersuasive toward the recently converted people of Ammon (Alma 30:19-21) When have you kept your faith rooted in Christ despite life not going as planned How can we nourish our faith in the Savior this week Volkswagen is allowing all contracts of the current 1,000 temporary employees at the Zwickau electric car plant to expire by the end of 2025 This was confirmed by VW and the Works Council following a works meeting Rumours had already been circulating in July they will also have to leave at the end of 2025: Their contracts will not be extended A VW spokesperson told the Freie Presse that the order situation has hardly improved – and that no positive change is to be expected in the near future The affected employees are not prepared to accept this in silence They have now written an open letter to the top management in Wolfsburg and Saxony as well as to representatives of the federal and state governments they hold the Group management and politicians responsible for the “decline” The year 2024 felt like a “death in instalments” “We feel let down by politicians and the Executive Board […] we now have to pay for this failure across the board.” In the meantime the situation has become even worse: “Our permanent colleagues are also living and working in uncertainty.” The plans for the job cuts are said to have been in the drawer for some time The focus is on those fixed-term employment contracts that expire at the end of next year Volkswagen has already made savings on temporary employees in 2023 and 2024 1,000 employment contracts have also been allowed to expire this year but around 700 fixed-term employees have been offered a permanent position the number of expired contracts is said to have totalled around 270 The reason for this is the sluggish demand for e-cars from the VW Group the two production lines at the Zwickau plant were switched to two-shift operation (without night shifts) in September but the company wants to “remain flexible” in case demand picks up again a VW spokesperson was quoted as saying by MDR in July As of July around 9,400 people work at the Zwickau plant before the Zwickau factory was converted into a pure electric car production facility between 6,500 and 7,500 employees worked in Zwickau the sales difficulties were not foreseeable until 2022 The VW ID.3 and the Cupra Born are produced on production line one at the factory in Saxony. VW’s ID.4 and ID.5 as well as Audi’s Q4 e-tron and Q4 Sportback e-tron roll off the production line on line two. From the second half of 2023, there were production breaks on-site, for example, in October 2023 when Volkswagen stopped production line one for around two weeks due to weak demand production of the two models then resumed in three-shift operation the workforce was hit by more bad news: First the night shift was cancelled in the production of the VW ID.3 and Cupra Born after which VW completely shut down production of the two electric cars Further job cuts are looming at Volkswagen's electric car plant in Zwickau the car manufacturer could allow the temporary employment contracts of more than 1,000 employees to expire at the end of 2025 The final decision is due to be made in August The plans for the job cuts are said to date back to last year Volkswagen had already not extended several hundred fixed-term employment contracts in Zwickau in 2023 and 2024 The VW spokesperson told MDR that the reason for the possible upcoming job cuts was the sluggish demand for electric cars from the VW Group the two production lines at the Zwickau plant are to be converted to two-shift operation (without night shifts) following the summer holidays This means that fewer workers will be needed the VW spokesperson was quoted as saying by MDR around 9,400 people currently work at the plant Before the Zwickau factory was converted into a pure e-car production facility between 6,500 and 7,500 people were employed in Zwickau The VW ID.3 and the Cupra Born are produced on production line one at the factory in Saxony The ID.4 and ID.5 from VW and the Q4 e-tron and Q4 Sportback e-tron from Audi roll off the production line on production line two There have already been production breaks in recent months when Volkswagen stopped production line one for around two weeks – also due to weak demand after which VW shut down production of the two electric cars completely during the Advent season various media reported that there would be job cuts at the Zwickau electric car plant The contracts of 269 employees had already expired in 2023 assumed in winter that almost 500 employees with fixed-term contracts would no longer be employed a possible solution is emerging in the wage dispute at Volkswagen in order to retain all VW brand plants in Germany it would be a turning point for the Zwickau electric car plant - something similar is also emerging for the iconic Golf the management is prepared to keep the plants running and reintroduce job security agreements until 2030 in return for employees waiving their bonus payments Several informants are said to have stated this The fifth round of negotiations between Volkswagen and IG Metall was scheduled for this week Both sides had emphasised in advance that they were aiming to reach an agreement before Christmas there was no officially confirmed breakthrough in the current round either which are allegedly being discussed as cost-cutting measures should therefore be treated with caution: According to the Bloomberg report the relocation of VW Golf production to Mexico is rumoured to be on the table The VW icon is currently produced at the main plant in Wolfsburg there is no further information as to when production will be relocated The Golf VIII is only available as a plug-in hybrid as the electric compact segment is served by the ID.3 would be a huge concession for the union and the works council actually builds vehicles with a focus on the North American market Another relevant point from an electromobility perspective is that the ‘production of VW-branded electric vehicles in Zwickau’ could be discontinued with the ID.4 also being built in Emden at the same time It is not known whether the ID.3 and ID.5 will also be relocated to another plant Neither Volkswagen nor IG Metall would comment on the information when asked by Bloomberg Volkswagen Saxony dismissed media reports that the production of electric cars in Zwickau will be discontinued Press spokesman Christian Sommer emphasised to MDR Sachsen that there are no plans to end electric car production in Zwickau Stopping EV production would be equivalent to closing the site the VW spokesperson did not elaborate on which electric models and brands would be built in Zwickau in the future there were already several warning strikes around the further rounds of negotiations there is a threat of work stoppages on a much larger scale next year bnnbloomberg.ca, mdr.de (in German) Looking to access paid articles across multiple policy topics Interested in policy insights for EU professional organisations Fully electric cars account for more than 28% of all cars driven in the Nordic country as of December according to Public Road Administration data News Service Produced externally by an organization we trust to adhere to journalistic standards Cars are loaded on a train following assembly at the Volkswagen (VW) vehicle factory in Zwickau completely re-equipped for electric mobility for a total of 1.2 billion euros produces exclusively all-electric vehicles and has become the largest and highest-performance electric car plant in Europe for the Volkswagen group 2025 could well be the year electromobility goes mainstream – thanks to corporate fleets either observed and verified directly by the reporter or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources Electric cars ready for shipping at a German manufacturing plant in Zwickau [Hendrik Schmidt/picture alliance via Getty Images] Volkswagen is driving forward the shift to electric vehicle manufacturing with its ACCELERATE strategy Today’s official start of production of the ID.5 and ID.5 GTX marks the completion of Volkswagen’s successful transformation of its Zwickau plant into a dedicated electric vehicle production facility The long-established site in western Saxony is the first large-scale facility of any volume manufacturer worldwide to switch over all production from internal combustion engine vehicles to electric vehicles Audi and CUPRA brands will now be manufactured in Zwickau based on the modular electric drive matrix (MEB) ID.4) will be added to the electric vehicle production network this year The Volkswagen brand has thus laid the foundations for building 1.2 million all-electric-vehicles at its sites in Europe the USA and China in 2022 based on the MEB Member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Brand responsible for Production: “Volkswagen will continue to increase the pace of e-mobility in 2022 with its ACCELERATE strategy and the expansion of the model portfolio The Zwickau production plant has paved the way for the Group to do this with six ramp-ups from three brands in just 26 months The knowledge and experience gained will help us to continue to electrify our production network quickly and efficiently.” Chairman of the Board of Volkswagen Saxony: “After Gläserne Manufaktur Dresden we have now converted a second Volkswagen factory in Saxony to dedicated electric vehicle production The start of production of the ID.5 and ID.5 GTX marks the successful transformation of the Zwickau plant on the product side Our focus now – depending on how the semiconductor situation pans out – will be on achieving full capacity This year we aim to exceed the 180,000 vehicles Volkswagen Saxony built in 2021.” Chairman of the General Works Council at Volkswagen Saxony: “Switching over to electric vehicle production was exactly the right decision for the Zwickau plant and our team’s jobs will be safe for years to come We are a trailblazer of change and have repaid the Group’s trust in us This is first and foremost a fantastic achievement by our workforce.” around 1.2 billion euros has been spent on converting the Zwickau plant from ICE vehicle production into a digital highly efficient showcase factory for the manufacture of electric vehicles Increasing use is being made of technology such as smart Industry 4.0 robots and driverless transportation systems that take components to the assembly line completely autonomously Close to 40 percent of the investment volume went into the enhancement and expansion of the body shop alone This area’s already high level of automation now reaches nearly 90 percent and the number of state-of-the-art robots has risen from 1,200 to 1,625 Automation in the assembly line has also been almost doubled to 28 percent and production ergonomics have improved significantly Only jobs involving monotonous or physically strenuous work have been affected such as working with one’s hands above one’s shoulders or overhead work more than 50,000 square meters of new building space have been created such as for the expansion of the press shop which is where all shell body parts for the electric models are now pressed on site – saving 9,000 truck trips per year Other major projects involved construction of a new logistics building as well as a battery sequencer which is now the tallest building at the Zwickau site The volume of investment for these three projects alone is around 115 million euros The transformation to electric vehicle production in Zwickau has created enduring The some 9,000 permanent staff working at the site received training in the new technology as part of a major training initiative all employees attended information events on electric vehicles A total of 3,000 production workers completed the training center’s e-mobility program to prepare them for the new production requirements the Zwickau team had put in a total of around 20,000 days of training six models from three brands will leave the production line – the Volkswagen ID.3 Q4 Sportback e-tron and CUPRA BornThe production capacity corresponds to an annual output of more than 300,000 vehicles making the Zwickau plant currently the most efficient electric vehicle manufacturing facility in Europe Volkswagen only delivers vehicles to customers that are produced in a carbon-neutral manner throughout the entire supply and production chain carbon generation is avoided or reduced as far as possible – and any unavoidable emissions are offset through climate action The carbon avoidance measures in manufacturing also extend to energy-intensive production of battery cells it was agreed that suppliers would use green electricity from renewable sources in cell production The life-cycle assessment of electric vehicles can be improved further with this important tool the external power supply was switched over to 100 percent green electricity as early as 2017 Since production of the ID.3 began in November 2019 any remaining emissions from the site’s highly efficient cogeneration unit and the entire upstream chain have been offset for all models manufactured in Zwickau through certified climate projects implemented in accordance with officially recognized standards At the heart of the “Way to ZERO” decarbonization program is the brand’s ACCELERATE strategy aimed at stepping up the pace of the electric offensive Volkswagen intends to be net carbon neutral by 2050 at the latest The interim target is to cut CO2 emissions per vehicle by 40 percent in Europe by 2030 (baseline: 2018) and operation of electric cars are to be made net carbon neutral Added to this is the systematic recycling of the high-voltage batteries from old electric vehicles The goal is the full electrification of the new vehicle fleet at least 70 percent of all Volkswagen’s unit sales in Europe will be all-electric vehicles – i.e substantially more than one million vehicles the share of electric vehicles in unit sales is expected to reach at least 50 percent Volkswagen will be launching at least one new electric car each year Video: ID.5 in series production: Volkswagen successfully transforms Zwickau site into an electric vehicle production plant BSV Saxen Zwickau escaped a six-game losing streak with a thrilling victory over TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen Saxony won 27-26 against Leverkusen in the fourth round of Germany's women's handball Bundesliga in the 2024/25 season at Stadthalle Zwickau in Zwickau on the 30th (local time) thanks to a winning goal eight seconds before the end of the match remained in 10th place with 4 wins and 9 losses (8 points) for the season while Leverkusen remained at the bottom with 14 consecutive losses (0 points) Saxony Tsubikau led the attack with Arwen Gorb and Blanka Kajdon scoring six goals each and Kaho Nakayama scoring five goals Goalkeeper Barbara Viktoria Gyori played a crucial role in the victory with nine saves Leverkusen led the attack with seven goals by Kristin Kaufmann and five by Johanna Andresen and goalkeeper Rieke Anna van der Linden made nine saves Saxony Tsvikau scored two goals in a row and got off to a good start Leverkusen quickly fought back and scored four goals in a row to turn it around 10-9 and run to 15-12 Saxony Tsvikau finished the first half with a narrow 15-14 deficit as he chased down two goals in the final minute He trailed by 19-22 and three goals in the middle of the game and narrowed the gap by actively utilizing the "seven-to-six attack" at the end of the game Tsubikau's Anna Frankova scored a dramatic winning goal on the right side Leverkusen failed to score its first points of the season failing to take advantage of its last chance to attack ※ This service is provided by machine translation tool Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker The last model with a combustion engine left the assembly line today at the Zwickau car factory The seventh generation Golf R Estate with 2.0-litre petrol engine in Oryx White Pearl Effect was produced for a customer in Germany only electric models of Volkswagen and in future also of the sister brands Audi and Seat will be produced in Zwickau The leap into the modern automobile age has been a long one: since 1904 cars with combustion engines have been built in Zwickau - initially for many years and in GDR times the Trabant came off the assembly line here Volkswagen started production at its plant in western Saxony exactly 6,049,207 Volkswagen cars of the models Polo Passat Saloon and Passat Variant have been produced in Zwickau Managing Director of Technology and Logistics at Volkswagen Sachsen: “Today is a historic day for us We are proud of what we have achieved so far and at the same time are greatly looking forward to what the future holds for us The trend towards electric mobility will continue to pick up speed We will meet this demand from Zwickau: we have already created the capacity to build 330,000 vehicles next year.” Chairman of the General Works Council at Volkswagen Sachsen: “Zwickau is steeped in German automotive tradition Our team has always delivered excellent performance and built vehicles with excellent quality We have gained the trust in the Group to become the first location to start fully electric large-scale series production The Zwickau plant is therefore well-equipped for the future.” Work has already started in Hall 6 where the Golf Estate has been produced so far After a conversion phase lasting several weeks during the summer the first electric vehicles will be produced there at the end of the year – alongside the ID.4 an SUV from the sister brand Audi is also planned Series production of the ID.3 1st Edition already started at the site in west Saxony in November 2019 and the start of production of the ID.4 will follow this summer Qualification programme for all 8,000 employees With the step-by-step transformation of the Zwickau plant Volkswagen is for the first time switching a large car factory completely to electric mobility The investments for conversion amount to around 1.2 billion euros six MEB models will be built for three Group brands in Zwickau All 8,000 employees will be prepared for production of electric cars and for handling high-voltage systems as part of various training measures The Zwickau team will complete around 20,500 days of training by the end of 2020 This will ensure long-term job security at the Zwickau location MEB makes electric vehicles suitable for mass production The ID.3 is the first vehicle based on the modular electric toolkit (MEB) from Volkswagen The platform was developed specifically for electric cars and optimally exploits the possibilities offered by electric mobility The ID.3 is therefore characterised by long ranges plenty of interior space and dynamic driving behaviour The base version will cost less than 30,000 euros Early birds have been able to place binding orders for their reserved vehicles since 17 June The market launch of the ID.3 1st Edition will take place almost simultaneously throughout Europe in September 2020 In addition to the Zwickau vehicle plant Volkswagen Sachsen has two other locations in the Free State of Saxony: The Chemnitz engine plant produces The e-Golf will roll off the production line at the Transparent Factory in Dresden by the end of the year and from 2021 the ID.3 will be produced there The bodies for the Lamborghini and Bentley luxury SUVs will continue to be produced in Zwickau Production of vehicles with combustion engine in Zwickau since 1904 *Note: All units produced refer to passenger cars as not every model from the early days is listed in the documents with exact numbers of units Volkswagen’s electric offensive is picking up speed: Today saw the official start of series production of the ID.3 The first car in the new generation of electric vehicles (EVs) – a white ID.3 – rolled off the assembly line watched by Federal Chancellor Dr The Volkswagen Group plans to sell some 22 million EVs worldwide by 2028 Zwickau has a key role to play in this endeavor: For the first time a large car manufacturing plant is being entirely converted to e-mobility Zwickau is already scheduled to produce some 100,000 electric models next year up to 330,000 EVs will leave the assembly line each year making the site the largest and most efficient EV factory in Europe and a trailblazer in the transformation of Volkswagen’s global production network “The ID.3 will make an important contribution to the breakthrough of e-mobility It makes clean individual mobility accessible to millions of people and is a milestone for our company on the road to becoming climate-neutral by 2050” Group CEO Herbert Diess said at the ceremony in Zwickau The ID.3 is based on Volkswagen’s Modular Electric Drive Toolkit (MEB) This is an all-electric platform that leverages to the full the opportunities offered by e-mobility a very spacious interior and dynamic vehicle handling The basic version is priced at under €30,000 in Germany The ID.3 will be launched almost simultaneously on markets throughout Europe in summer 2020 Over 35,000 international customers have already reserved an ID.3 and paid a pre-booking deposit The ID.3 sets new benchmarks in sustainability: Production will be balance sheet carbon-neutral which means the car is delivered to customers with a carbon-neutral footprint Green power is exclusively used in energy-intensive battery cell production for the ID.3 Emissions from the entire production process that are currently unavoidable will be offset among other things through investments in the “Katingan Mataya Forest Protection” climate project on the Indonesian island of Borneo All 8,000 employees participate in qualification program With the phased transformation of the Zwickau factory Volkswagen is fully converting a large car manufacturing plant to e-mobility for the first time Some €1.2 billion is being invested in the conversion six MEB models from three Group brands will be built in Zwickau Qualification measures are preparing all 8,000 employees for EV production and working with high-voltage technology the Zwickau team will have completed some 13,000 training days by the end of 2020 thus ensuring future-proof jobs at the Zwickau plant “The ID.3 is a high-tech car from a high-tech factory driverless transport systems and fully-automated manufacturing processes Zwickau gives a contemporary insight into the shape of forward-looking high-volume production of EVs” Volkswagen Brand Board Member for E-Mobility it is the people who build the cars who are the key to success: Our team in Saxony mastered the two-year conversion phase culminating in today’s SOP with much know-how and dedication Strong cluster for EVs in German automotive manufacturing Volkswagen is making an important contribution to climate protection and thereby creating long-term perspectives for some 100,000 employees at its German plants “Germany must drive the change and achieve proficiency throughout the e-mobility value chain That is why we are producing EVs in Germany and have at the same time taken the decision to develop and manufacture electric motors as well as battery cells and systems A strong cluster for EVs will emerge in Germany in the coming years” Apart from manufacturing at the Zwickau factory Salzgitter and Wolfsburg are also involved in ID.3 production They manufacture key components such as the electric motors or the battery systems The car manufacturing plants in Emden and Hanover are scheduled to begin building EVs from 2022 the Group is also cooperating with Northvolt to set up a major battery cell factory in Salzgitter A comprehensive information package on SOP of the ID.3 including speeches, presentations, booklet, photos and videos is available at id3.vw-newsroom.com We call on all VW workers: Get in touch via WhatsApp at +491633378340 or fill out the form below At a factory meeting last week at the Zwickau plant in Germany management of Volkswagen Saxony announced that 269 workers would immediately lose their temporary jobs About 2,200 of the total 11,000 employees in Zwickau have fixed-term contracts In view of the rapid decline in demand for VW’s expensive electric cars at least these 2,200 workers must expect that their contracts will not be renewed in the coming weeks and months It has not been announced whether more jobs are on the list to be cut the Zwickau plant was converted into Europe’s first purely electric car factory the Audi Q4 e-tron and Q4 Sportback e-tron as well as the Cupra Born are produced there the state government and the IG Metall union claimed that secure jobs would be created and a prosperous future of climate-friendly mobility was on the horizon the IG Metall works council representatives have been negotiating with VW managers behind closed doors about the extent to which shifts will be cut and when and how many workers will see their jobs cut The workforce and the workers concerned are to be presented with a fait accompli so that it is too late for them to act against it Saxony’s state Minister of Economic Affairs unintentionally admitted that the workforce was being deceived by politics and trade unions adding he had been in contact with the works council and his Lower Saxon counterpart Olaf Lies (SPD) for several weeks These intrigues against the interests of the workforce must not be allowed to continue Workers have the right to know what the future holds for them All restructuring and downsizing plans must be disclosed immediately VW cites “the current market situation” as the reason for the cuts High inflation and declining subsidies meant electric vehicle buyers were holding back Since the state-funded subsidies have been sharply reduced Nearly 70 percent of newly registered electric cars were for commercial customers claiming sales figures would rise again next year Workers we spoke to do not share this optimism to achieve the profit increases recently decided by VW would require a veritable massacre of jobs There is no way this can be achieved by further state subsidies alone Such measures are rather meant to keep the workforce quiet is using the conversion from combustion to electric vehicles as a welcome opportunity to drastically reduce costs and cut tens of thousands of jobs VW wants to earn €10 billion more in 2026 than this year as brand boss Thomas Schäfer announced at the factory meeting in Wolfsburg in June The performance programme of VW and IG Metall envisages a doubling to tripling of the current returns The workforce has not yet received any information on how many and which jobs are to fall victim to the cuts programme the events of the last weeks show where the journey at VW is going Jobs are not only being cut in Zwickau and Dresden Production of electric cars ID.4 and ID.7 has been shut down at the Emden plant as well Three hundred of 1,500 temporary workers will no longer be employed from August VW has imposed short-time work or stopped production altogether because a supplier plant could no longer deliver due to the floods in Slovenia There is a shortage of gear rims everywhere which are urgently needed for the drive train in combustion engines He was told by his colleagues that the Emden workers received €135 a day This is another way of maintaining the division of the workforces even at the smallest possible level Although neither the workers of the Slovenian Volkswagen plant nor the workforces of the VW plants concerned bear the slightest responsibility for the delivery bottlenecks they are the ones who have to pay bitterly for it through wage cuts or loss of wages the VW works council representatives are completely on the side of the management A VW spokeswoman succinctly stated: “Due to the volatile situation the company decides on the further course of action together with the works council.” There is no plant that is not currently affected by changes the assembly lines are partially shut down Shifts are also being cancelled in Osnabrück a nine-week production freeze has been imposed since last week 300 temporary workers and those on fixed-term contracts have already lost their jobs: 100 of them directly from the VW plant and 200 from other companies Thousands of workers in supplier companies in the industrial area in Palmelavon are now dependent on welfare benefits because the VW group is not paying them any wage compensation where mainly Golf and Tiguan models are built short-time work has been introduced until September 29 There are media reports suggesting that the Wolfsburg plant could even come to a complete standstill in October CEO Oliver Blume announced that the originally planned state-of-the-art dedicated factory for the Trinity series at the headquarters in Wolfsburg will not come about The Trinity is to be built at VW’s existing main plant in Wolfsburg Using existing capacity at the Wolfsburg plant which is currently being converted to parallel e-car production The question also arises whether priority is being given to Wolfsburg at the expense of the Zwickau plant despite low capacity utilisation at the Zwickau e-car plant production of the Audi Q4 e-tron is to be extended to the Brussels plant and the VW ID.3 to Wolfsburg The question arises whether there are plans to close the plants in Zwickau or in Emden Why are the works councils and IG Metall silent The IG Metall is significantly involved in the development and implementation of the concrete plans for the cuts at VW The most important representatives of the major shareholders sit “in the presidium of the supervisory board where all fundamental decisions on corporate strategy as well as on the plants and models of Europe’s largest car manufacturer are made,” is how Manager Magazin describes this powerful body The body includes the chairman of the supervisory board Hans Dieter Pötsch the two heads of the family clans with major VW shareholdings as well as Lower Saxony’s Minister President Stephan Weil (SPD) since the state owns 20 percent of VW shares Four highly paid IG Metall bureaucrats also sit on this powerful presidium: IG Metall boss Jörg Hofmann; the chairwoman of the VW general and group works council Daniela Cavallo; the chair of the general works council of AUDI who was chair of the works council of VW in Zwickau and the general works council in Saxony until February 2023—and is now head of human resources at VW in Dresden when the Federal Court of Justice rejected the VW works council representatives’ demands to receive salaries at the level of managers the long-serving head of the works council moved directly to VW management without further ado As head of human resources at the glass factory in Dresden he was to promote “the strategic reorientation of the site,” according to a VW press release In no other German company is the collaboration between management and trade union as sophisticated as at Volkswagen IG Metall and the works councils ensure that the group’s decisions are implemented smoothly and that there is no resistance to them received up to €750,000 a year in his best years as a works council member As personnel director at the truck subsidiary Tratonhe he is now enhancing his retirement pot as personnel director at the truck subsidiary Traton ex-general secretary of the VW works council with an annual salary of €6.8 million in 2022 All his predecessors in this post were previously long-time SPD and IG Metall bureaucrats bringing together all VW workers who are serious about fighting These committees must be independent of the works councils and IG Metall To finance the huge costs of war and trade war and further drive up share prices the owners of capital and governments everywhere are attacking workers’ social gains and rights The threatened cutbacks at Volkswagen are part of an international attack on the working class Currently 150,000 auto workers in the US are in contract disputes with Ford After decades of wage cuts and plant closures 97 percent of the workforce voted for an all-out strike; however the UAW (United Auto Workers) union is disregarding this vote and has only called out a few thousand workers on strike The formation of an action committee at VW will contribute decisively to building an axis of resistance between Wolfsburg and to making the struggle against the cuts at VW part of a systematic international offensive in the car and supplier industry Volkswagen resumed three-shift operations at its MEB plant in Zwickau on Monday production had been interrupted for around three weeks in March due to disrupted supply chains before restarting on a reduced scale VW was one of the first carmakers to be affected by production stoppages in connection with the Russian invasion of Ukraine Numerous models – including the six MEB series built in Zwickau – were fitted with wiring harnesses manufactured by the supplier Leoni in western Ukraine On 29 March production started in the early and late shifts and around 900 vehicles a day production has been running at this level due to the supply chain “The parts supply is now so stable again that with the third shift we now have additional capacity in Zwickau to work off the high order backlog,” says Stefan Loth Chairman of the Board of Management at Volkswagen Saxony The third shift will increase daily production to around 1,300 vehicles the Audi Q4 e-tron (and Sportback) and the Cupra Born are also built in Zwickau 35 ID.3s are built each day at the Transparent Factory in Dresden In Germany, the ID.4 and ID.5 are the most popular MEB models. According to sales figures (where the SUV and SUV coupé are recorded as one model series) the ID.4 and ID.5 are in fourth place in terms of electric car registrations this year with 5,618 units The Czech-built Skoda Enyaq follows in ninth place with 4,796 units while the ID.3 was delivered 4,464 times and ranks 12th in the electric car statistics Source: Info via email, twitter.com Volkswagen announced on Monday that its main electric car production site in Zwickau The production lines were halted in late February due to parts supply issues (specifically wire harnesses from Ukraine) for about three weeks and then resumed on March 29 at a limited scale of around 900 vehicles a day production gradually increased and on June 13 the company was able to resume 3-shift operation with an output of roughly 1,300 units per workday Chairman of the Board of Management at Volkswagen Saxony said: “The parts supply is now so stable again that with the third shift we now have additional capacity in Zwickau to work off the high order backlog,” the company produces a total of six MEB-based models The plant was envisioned for 330,000 BEVs per year Considering how constrained the production of electric cars was earlier this year it's outstanding news - also for those who are waiting for the Volkswagen ID.4 in the US (initially imported from Germany) Volkswagen recently also launched production of the Volkswagen ID.4 in Emden, while the Volkswagen ID. Buzz entered production in Hanover. At the Transparent Factory in Dresden the company produces the ID.3 but at a small scale (reportedly 35 units per day) Meanwhile, Volkswagen Group's Skoda also was able to resume production of the Skoda Enyaq iV and Enyaq Coupe iV to 1,000 units per week in late April (with a goal to reach 370 units per day or 1,850 per week later) All of those efforts should bring a steady high-volume flow of MEB-based electric cars to the EV-hungry European market Quick electrification of transport is currently doubly important as the oil is not only expensive but in the case of Europe The Best EV Lease And Finance Deals In April 2025 Waymo Is Far From Done With The Jaguar I-Pace Volkswagen ID.4 Motor Teardown: Killed By A Very Simple Problem Ford Isn't Slowing Down Mustang Mach-E Production Recall: Nearly 14,000 VW And Audi EVs Might Lose Power While Driving The 2025 Chevy Silverado EV Work Truck Is America’s New Range King The Volkswagen Group has a demand problem for its all-electric cars in Europe which soon might affect its main factory in Zwickau According to German media - Handelsblatt and Automobilwoche (via Reuters) - the weakened demand and competition from Tesla and Chinese imports might translate into a reduction of production and employment Let's recall that the factory in Zwickau is one of Volkswagen's flagship projects The company transformed a factory for internal combustion engine cars into a 100% all-electric car production site The original plan was to maintain employment from the ICE era through an increase of all-electric car production capacity to 330,000 (BEVs are simpler to assemble and thus the higher volume was necessary to maintain the employment) The transformation was initially successful and six MEB-based models entered production at the site: The production volume reached a record of 7,100 units per week (five workdays) in November 2022 and even increased to 7,300 per week in March 2023 the company's spokesperson confirmed that some of the employees on limited contracts will not find permanent employment The automaker stated: "Volkswagen continues to be 100% convinced of the path to electromobility .. in light of the current market conditions we can not extend 269 contracts which will run out shortly after a 12-month duration." Other articles say that a few hundred jobs out of 10,700 in total might be affected as soon as October This is not the first time we heard about demand issues. Previously, we heard about the postponed launch of the third shift at the Emden site in Germany, which is the second production site for the Volkswagen ID.4 in Germany. Reportedly, the move also affected the launch of the ID.7 at the site If we connect the dots with the recent European Union's move to investigate import of the Chinese electric cars The automotive industry in Europe probably acknowledges its difficult situation and is trying to figure out what to do Volkswagen Group Global EV Sales Stalled In Q2 2024 Updated 2024 Volkswagen ID.3 Gets Three New Trims Volkswagen Group Global EV Sales Slid In Q1 2024 the all-electric ID.5 will be coming off the production line at Volkswagen’s Zwickau site – this is the sixth electric model to come from the car plant in Saxony One factory – six cars: an extraordinary challenge Experts Robert Pahlow (start-up management) and Frank Schemmel (vehicle production) explain how it works Zwickau produces models as diverse as the compact ID.3 from Volkswagen and the Q4 e-tron Robert Pahlow can count more than 120 instances of “identical concepts” And the models from Zwickau are also closely related when it comes to the software This is facilitated by the shared technical basis – the Modular Electric Drive Matrix (MEB) Volkswagen’s vehicle architecture developed specifically for electric drive gives long ranges plenty of space inside and strong performance Production is extremely versatile: various measures guide the different models to the respective production line with so much precision that employees always know which parts they need to install To keep up with the high demand for electric cars two production lines are in operation – one for the ID.3 and CUPRA Born The ID.4 can be built on either line – as needed the Volkswagen plant has completed six model start-ups for three of the Group’s brands in the space of two years The production pros at Zwickau can schedule the electric SUV ID.4 on either of their two production lines – allowing the plant to adapt flexibly to demand The ID.3 was the first Volkswagen based on the modular electric drive matrix (MEB).In its very first year on the European market the compact model with the likeable face attracted more than 144,000 customers 100% SUV – 100% electric: the ID.4 is the first all-electric SUV from Volkswagen It’s part of the biggest market segment in the world The ID.5 is the first electric SUV coupé from Volkswagen It is the brand’s first all-electric top-of-the-range model classed as premium The ID.5 and the sporty ID.5 GTX with twin engine four-wheel drive captivate with expressive design long-distance capability and the latest software The brand’s first all-electric model is built for passionate driving Diverse all-rounder with a progressive design: the Audi Q4 e-tron it combines new spatial dimensions inside with pioneering solutions when it comes to operation Volkswagen Group's electric car factory in Zwickau Germany will have to pause production of some of the MEB-based models the company's largest EV factory was negatively affected by an insufficient supply of the all-new APP550 electric motors from the Kassel plant The new motors were introduced earlier this year and fitted to a number of MEB-based models bringing more power and torque – respectively 210 kilowatts and 550 Newton-meters – and higher efficiency compared to the previous model the production of e-drives at the Volkswagen Group Components site in Kassel is currently limited The new motors are used in the latest versions of the Volkswagen ID.4 the production might be paused for as long as three weeks and affect more than 1,000 out of around 8,000 employees at the site The Volkswagen ID.3 and Cupra Born hatchbacks are not affected because they still use the older 150-kW electric motor The report indicates that the Volkswagen Group will redirect the limited number of APP550 to the Emden plant so that production of the newly launched Volkswagen ID.7 is not interrupted (the ID.4 is also produced in Emden) It's difficult to say what caused the bottleneck at the e-drive factory, but hopefully, it's temporary. Nonetheless, it's another story about interruptions at the Volkswagen Group factories, after several reports about insufficient demand and production cuts When initially converting the Zwickau plant from 100 percent ICE cars to 100 percent all-electric cars the company wanted to produce six models at a rate of around 330,000 annually the Zwickau factory is expected to produce a new model based on the upcoming SSP platform (the Trinity project) Volkswagen's largest all-electric car factory in Zwickau Germany has just set a new weekly production record some 7,100 BEVs were produced during five workdays (November 7-11) the factory would produce up to 350,000 electric cars This alone indicates that the maximum output of 330,000 units annually - envisioned when the plant was converted from a 100% ICE plant to a 100% BEV plant a few years ago - was already reached Considering what happened in Europe this year and how limited parts supply can be at times, it's a pretty bold achievement and a sign that Volkswagen solved bottlenecks The plant in Zwickau produces six MEB-based models: The other Germany MEB-based EV plant - the Transparent Factory in Dresden, which produces the ID.3 on a small scale since January 2021 (35 or so per day) also celebrates its small milestone of 10,000 ID.3 produced cumulatively Earlier this month, the Volkswagen brand announced that its cumulative sales of ID. models (ID.3, ID.4, ID.5 and ID.6) reached 500,000 just the beginning of a broader transition from ICE to BEV Volkswagen announced 10 new electric models by 2026 the company will be producing only battery-electric cars in Europe Electrification in other markets of course depends on various factors but also is expected to progress Tesla In 'Panic Mode' After Report Of New CEO Search Volkswagen Wants A China Comeback With These New Cars Zwickau has been considered the cradle of the Saxon automotive industry for 114 years the Volkswagen Group will develop the site to become Europe’s largest competence center for electromobility and electromobility’s future hub: Zwickau is considered the cradle of the Saxon automotive industry and has shaped the automotive construction industry like no other German city As a beacon of hope and development driver Volkswagen Group has been a leader in innovations for an entire economic region over the last 28 years The completion of the first GDR Volkswagen Polo in the production hall of the IFA-Kombinat PKW /Industrieverband Fahrzeugbau [“Industrial Association for Vehicle Construction”] on May 21 and breaking ground for the new automobile plant on September 26 in the town of Mosel – an independent municipality at the time – by Zwickau marked the start of a new chapter in the city’s long automotive history The dawn of this era had already begun on May 10 On that day the German mechanical engineer August Horch moved his company A – first established in Cologne-Ehrenfeld in 1899 and subsequently continued in Reichenbach (Vogtland) from 1902 onward – to Zwickau With the official registration of his company in the Zwickau trade registry as A he rose to become the founding father of the Saxon automotive industry the car pioneer developed an automobile with a shockfree engine (an engine that transfers power evenly and not erratically to the drive shaft and subsequently to the wheels) and introduced the first four-cylinder German car in 1903 Yet August Horch did not only stand for the quality luxury and technical progress of the Horch cars he also became responsible for founding the Audi Automobilwerke GmbH that same year and brought the first Audi to market in Zwickau in 1910 The company grew to become a world leader in premium car brands in steps: first by merging with the Horch Wanderer and DKW brands to form the Auto Union AG in 1932 then the renewed founding in 1949 as Auto Union GmbH in Ingolstadt followed by the later merger with the NSU Motorenwerke AG in 1969 and finally Audi became part of the Volkswagen Group in 1965 The Volkswagen Group continued Zwickau’s storied automotive manufacturing tradition with the establishment of Volkswagen Sachsen GmbH on December 12 The Volkswagen Group’s initial investment of 4 billion DM went into the construction of a new car manufacturing plant conceived for the production of the Golf Sometime earlier the transition from mass production of the Trabant – which had been in operation since 1957 at the VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke – to modern new cars with catalytic converters had become apparent so the Volkswagen Group established the Volkswagen IFA-PKW GmbH together with the IFA-Kombinat for passenger cars in the GDR on December 22 Thereafter the “East’s” Trabi and the “West’s” Polo both rolled off the assembly line at the same time from the Sachsenring plant of the IFA-Kombinats PKW over a period of three months While the last “Trabi” made at the plant was a skyblue Trabant with a Polo engine under the plastic hood The first “Saxon” Polo was an alpine white car in a hatchback version A total of 17,978 cars were produced in Mosel until September 12 The start of Golf production in the assembly halls of the new automotive plant under construction on February 15 marked the launch of Volkswagen Group’s mass production at the Saxon site the 20,000-car mark had already been reached and in September 1992 it had already grown to 100,000 Even then the Volkswagen Group was already attaching great importance to investments in the infrastructure and an improved environment at their site locations the Volkswagen Group built a natural-gas-based heating plant on the Mosel by Zwickau factory premises in November 1991 followed by a wastewater center in summer 1992 Another Volkswagen Group response to the increasing challenges regarding environmental protection was also exemplified by the Golf Ecomatic which went into serial production exclusively in Mosel in September 1993 Its engine shut itself off automatically when the gas pedal was not in use or the car was at a standstill and could be started again simply by accelerating while driving or by shifting into gear and accelerating from a stationary state The installation of modern heat recycling systems for incoming/outgoing air simultaneously increased the Group’s energy efficiency at the location the Golf CitySTROMer celebrated its premiere in February 1994 It was the first fully-electrical Golf that was built as the Volkswagen Group’s first series model exclusively produced there The reward for this commitment was the award of the European Environment Certificate in 1996 The reward for this commitment was the award of the European Environment Certificate in 1996.However continual development and application of cutting-edge technologies such as the “turntable concept” the Volkswagen Group grew the Mosel by Zwickau site to one of Europe’s most modern automotive manufacturing facilities technically compatible equipment made it possible to quickly switch models so that the factory was able to manufacture two different passenger cars like the Volkswagen Golf and Volkswagen Passat simultaneously and flexibly The highlight was a new transportation system that was able to move the chassis and vehicles across a distance of 1.240 meters through the hall via an overhead electric track with special uptake ability The plant was also an innovative pioneer in modular car construction module suppliers who set up shop near the plant could pre-assemble complex component groups from individual parts test and deliver them directly to the exact installation location in the final assembly line at the factory without having to resort to interim storage Volkswagen Sachsen GmbH won the German Logistics Prize for their collaboration with module suppliers The success story at the Mosel location is also evident in the production records that the Group achieved at the Saxon site starting in 1998 That year the automobile factory was operating at full capacity and was able to celebrate the anniversary of the 250,000th finished Volkswagen in a year The anniversary car was a fourth-generation Golf equipped with a 110-hp TDI engine and a right-hand drive version destined for the English market With that the Saxon subsidiary of Volkswagen had evolved into the company with the highest sales in the former East German states The one millionth Volkswagen from Saxony that rolled off the assembly line followed on July 9 In 2003 the Passat became the first Volkswagen model to exceed the one-millionth vehicle produced at the factory single-handedly In February 2005 the one-millionth Golf model followed suit With the production of chassis for the Phaeton (until 2016) and Bentley starting in December 2001 Volkswagen Group expanded the vehicles / chassis manufactured at the plant by two luxury models chassis for the Lamborghini Urus (2) have also been produced Currently 1,350 vehicles / chassis for Bentley and Volkswagen are produced by 7,700 employees the factory also encompasses a customer and service center and a production site at the St where special vehicles and gas racks are manufactured The Volkswagen Group’s most important goal for the coming years at the Zwickau location is reducing CO2 emissions and preparing the facility for the e-mobility era in December 2013 a newly constructed co-generation plant able to reduce annual CO2 emissions by 23,000 tons went online In 2014 a photovoltaic facility took up operations It can generate around 90,000 kW of electrical energy and feeds directly into the power supply of the end assembly up to 80 tons of CO2 emissions can be prevented annually exactly 25 years after the first Volkswagen manufactured in Zwickau rolled off the assembly line an energy park with an integrated e-charging station went into operation on the premises of the automotive production complex The energy park utilizes wind power and photovoltaics to generate electricity Volkswagen Sachsen GmbH again signed a collaborative environment declaration to protect the environment and conserve natural resources.Volkswagen aim for the site:Zwickau will receive investments amounting to 1.2 billion euros by the end of 2020 pure e-mobility location and as the hub for e-mobility in Europe The first e-car will be built in Zwickau at the end of 2019 Volkswagen will assemble the upcoming all-electric Golf hatchback at its home factory in Wolfsburg alongside other Scalable Systems Platform-based (SSP) models The decisions came after a meeting between the German brand’s Group Board of Management and the parent group’s Supervisory Board that resulted in the vehicle allocation plan for the Volkswagen brand until 2028 (German factories only) have not been offered by the German manufacturer Previously, VW said that the production version of the ID. 2all concept which is expected to become an electric successor to the B-segment Polo would have a starting price of under $27,000 (€25,000) leading to the idea that the smaller ID.1 (name not confirmed yet) will be even cheaper making the upcoming all-electric city car a much more affordable alternative As for the Golf, it’s expected to debut in 2028 on the German car group’s SSP architecture the ninth-generation Golf should benefit from an 800-volt architecture that will allow it to charge at speeds in excess of 175 kilowatts SSP is also designed with Level 4 advanced driving assistance systems in mind Digital Sports ReporterPublished: Invalid Date A GERMAN fourth-division team had to eat their pre-match meal on the motorway after being delayed on their way to the game.. FSV Zwickau travelled by bus to the capital on Friday to face Viktoria Berlin at the Stadion Lichterfelde in the Regionalliga Nordost However, a horror car crash took place between the Wiedemar and Halle junctions on the A9 motorway heading to Berlin as two vehicles caught fire A driver of an Opel Mokka collided with an Audi and pushed it into a Ford Transit The Opel and the Audi were engulfed in flames but fortunately both drivers managed to escape in time while the third one was also thankfully well two people were slightly injured in the rear-end collision and were taken to hospital for observation A while later club chiefs understood they had to adapt to this extraordinary situation knowing that their players had to eat. And the team needed their food at a specific time before they entered the pitch to warm up. And so the club chiefs set up a massive spread on the guardrails of the motorway along with plates and utensils for the players. Zwickau published the pic with the following caption: "Now it's time to improvise." the German outfit couldn't make it to the ground on time Fans also experienced the same problem as many also opted for the three-hour drive And so the game was postponed with the two football teams now looking to agree on a new date Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. For further details of our complaints policy and to make a complaint please click this link: thesun.co.uk/editorial-complaints/ TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen scored its first point of the season in a draw with BSV Sachsen Zwickau Leverkusen tied Saxony Zwickau 24-24 in the 15th round of the women's handball Bundesliga in the 2024/25 season at Ostermann-Arena in Leverkusen which won its first point of the season with only one match left in the preliminary round while Saxony Tsubikau finished 11th with four wins Leverkusen led the attack with seven goals by Kristin Kaufmann and four goals each by Rosemarijn Alderden and Sophia Cormann Goalkeeper Rieke Anna van der Linden contributed to his team's first point with eight saves Saxony Tsubikau faced off with nine goals by Blanka Kajdon Goalkeeper Barbara Viktoria Gyori fought hard with 13 saves but Leverkusen scored in a row and Christine Kaufmann's goal made it 5-4 to come from behind but Leverkusen scored five goals again to take an 11-9 lead Jaksen Tsvikau's Nakayama Kaho scored in a row to tie the score at 11-11 and Leverkusen finished the first half 13-12 with Rosemary Alderden's back-to-back goal Leverkusen led 16-13 early in the second half but Saxony Tsvikau followed and tied it at 18-18 in the 48th minute Leverkusen's Annika Ingenpass scored three goals in about five minutes and seemed to win his first victory with a 23-20 run it ended in a draw as it failed to keep a three-goal gap in the last two minutes or so After chasing 24-22 with 70 seconds left in the final minute Saxony Tsvikau switched to a forward-pressing defense in the final minute Saxon Tsvikau players took the ball twice and tied it with a quick score Leverkusen coach Michael Biegler told the Bundesliga "I'm not too unhappy about the last situation The team has shown great performance throughout this season "We will also show our competitiveness in the play-down which will start in three and a half weeks," he said expressing a positive outlook while expressing regret over the results of the game coach Norman Rentsch of Saxony's Zwickau said the draw with a forward coercive defense shows the team's morale and faith it is a pity that many parts of the offense have not been executed What's important is that we're back and we've got a point," he said The city of Zwickau is once again attracting fierce criticism The reason is the city council's adherence to a ban on advertising for the German Armed Forces The Zwickau city council insists on a ban on advertising for the German Armed Forces explained Zwickau CDU member of parliament Carsten Körber on Facebook "The Bundeswehr is an alliance and peacekeeping army That's exactly why it belongs in Zwickau." It must be allowed to present its role as a security policy player "In view of global crises and the war in Ukraine we need a strong and capable Bundeswehr," said Körber who is Chairman of the CDU's Saxony regional group in the Bundestag Zwickau is isolating itself throughout Germany The city council first passed a ban on advertising for the Bundeswehr at the end of January Mayor Constance Arndt (Citizens for Zwickau) lodged an objection to the decision meaning that the city council had to revisit it the majority of the committee again voted in favor of the motion put forward by the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) It was mainly supported by the AfD parliamentary group but also by two city councillors from the CDU and the non-attached representative of the far-right Free Saxons The city leadership now wants to discuss the next steps with the legal department © 2009 - 2025 DieSachsen.de | Alle Rechte vorbehalten | Entwickelt mit publizer in Sachsen and we would like to use cookies to further improve your incredible experience at DieSachsen.de Welcome to www.automotivelogistics.media. 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Read our policy By 2020-11-30T15:13:00+00:00 Volkswagen is using a combination of rail and automated unloading to move batteries to its plant in Zwickau its first plant dedicated to electric vehicle production which is currently making the ID.3 and ID.4 The move further reduces the carbon footprint of the plant and is another step closer to its zero-emission sustainability strategy – goTOzero VW said that since 2017 it has been able to reduce carbon emissions at Zwickau by 60% or more than 100,000 tonnes per year The carmaker is using rail for the supply of battery cells from its supplier LG Chem in Wroclaw (Poland) to its Volkswagen Group Components plant in Brunswick (Germany) It is then also using rail for the transport of the battery modules to the Zwickau plant Five trains a week are currently running between Brunswick and Zwickau with more planned in the future as EV production increases at the plant VW is in the process of switching all the materials parts and vehicles it moves in Germany with state run rail provider Deutsche Bahn (DB) to green electricity by 2021 Currently 95% of VW freight movements carried by DB Cargo in Germany are accounted for by power generated by wind farms and hydropower plants Bringing the figure up to 100% will save more than 26,700 tons of CO2 emissions annually Within the Zwickau complex the company is using fully electric 40-tonne trucks to move the batteries from the unloading station at Harvesse to the assembly point “With this green and efficient logistics chain we are making a key contribution to reducing emissions within the group and to the delivery of the Volkswagen ID.3 and ID.4 with a neutral carbon balance,” said Thomas Zernechel outgoing head of Volkswagen Group Logistics The carbon-neutral strategy undertaken by VW is significant given that next month the EU is set to announce a set of environmental criteria for the production of batteries At the European Conference on Batteries held online this month European Commission vice-president said he was confident that by 2025 the EU will be able to produce enough battery cells to meet the needs of the European automotive industry Automated unloading For shipment of the battery cells and assembled modules Volkswagen Group Logistics has developed special containers that can be used both They are designed to make maximum use of the weights and volumes allowed by the rail cars used The unloading and loading systems at Zwickau and Brunswick highly automated something VW said was “an essential prerequisite for efficient battery assembly” at the German plants The loading cars at Brunswick and Zwickau have an empty weight of about 25 tonnes and travel on dedicated tracks beside the trains They lift the special containers with battery modules or battery systems into or out of the rail cars automatically VW said the loading or unloading of each train only takes about five hours Among the other notable logistics developments at Zwickau are the use of a virtual container acceptance system and the use of fully digital and automated logistics retrieval and control systems Read more about the pioneering logistics supporting EV production at Zwickau in our interview with Stefan Mader, manager of logistics planning and control at the plant  Daihatsu has shut down all production in Japan and halted the domestic and export shipment of vehicles following an investigation into safety procedure irregularities Tesla’s refusal in October to sign a collective agreement for repair centre mechanics has resulted in strike action taking place across the country Stellantis production in North America was hit by a cyberattack against its parts supplier Yanfeng International Automotive Technology last week Site powered by Webvision Cloud German Wheelchair Basketball club RB Zwickau was selected as a beneficiary under FIBA Foundation’s ‘Propose A Project’ platform has been actively conducting disability awareness workshops across Saxony’s fourth largest city besides its core responsibility of running as many as five wheelchair basketball teams “Wheelchair basketball has a long history in Zwickau of around 30 years We have around 50 club members (organization and players) Our vision is to not only show wheelchair basketball on a high level but also we see our duty to the society to educate kids teens and adults on the topic of inclusion,” club president Marco Förster The club was informed about the FIBA Foundation’s Propose A Project opportunity through its National Wheelchair Basketball Federation the Foundation also supplied 60 basketballs “That was an unexpectedly large number of balls we didn´t know what to do with this amount of balls,” Förster notes before adding that these were used to expand their pool of young players and distribute them to children from “difficult social backgrounds” RB Zwickau’s FIBA Foundation supported Project ‘Rollstuhlbasketball Macht Schule’ which translates to ‘Wheelchair Basketball Coming to School’ introduces the sport to educational institutions This Basketball For Good project is divided into two parts — theory and practice — and has received an overwhelmingly positive response having already reached 1000 children and young adults Participants are sensitized towards different forms of disabilities learn about the rules of wheelchair basketball including its classification systems and the distinction between “daily chair and sport chair” the project serves as a unique team-building activity and creates unforgettable moments for company employees ‘Propose a Project’ - A “Great Opportunity” persisting challenges include transportation of equipment wheelchair accessible buildings and limited manpower But having already achieved their annual outreach targets with five months to spare the club is confident about tackling all such growing pains “FIBA Foundation’s ‘Propose a Project’ is a great opportunity to get a bit of help to develop projects in sports for kids teens and also adults who are the future of our society,” Förster concludes with confidence The FIBA Foundation is the social and legacy arm of FIBA that addresses the role of sports and particularly basketball in society preserving and promoting basketball’s values and its cultural heritage The FIBA Foundation believes that basketball has the power to empower educate and inspire youth and facilitates this by implementing Basketball For Good projects around the world Zwickau has caused a stir nationwide with a ban on advertising for the German Armed Forces the municipal supervisory authority has now overturned the city council's decision The ban on advertising for the German Armed Forces in Zwickau is illegal according to the municipal supervisory authority The city council's decision violates applicable law The legal supervisory authority thus followed the position of Mayor Constance Arndt (Citizens for Zwickau) She had lodged an appeal against the decision for the second time "The Bundeswehr is an institution anchored in the Basic Law," was the reason given but also fulfills constitutionally defined tasks Its spectrum ranges from foreign missions and training young people to providing assistance in the event of a disaster "There is no constitutionally viable basis for discriminating against the Bundeswehr compared to other employers in terms of advertising space or events." In addition the decision violates the principle of equality under Article 3 of the Basic Law according to the district administration office The city council first passed a ban on advertising for the German Armed Forces at the end of January meaning that the city council had to revisit the issue the majority of the committee once again voted in favor of the motion put forward by the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) but also by two councillors from the CDU and the non-attached representative of the far-right Free Saxons so the case came to the district administration office the city must now repeal the relevant passage This should happen at the city council meeting on April 17 soldiers this week for rushing to the scene of a horrific highway crash and rendering lifesaving first aid last year the Zwickau Police Directorate acknowledged the actions of Staff Sgt all members of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment based in Vilseck but thanks to my training I was able to overcome my fear and concentrate on the accident and the injured,” Magana-Hernandez told German broadcaster MDR Saxony on Wednesday “To receive this honor and recognition today means a lot to me.” Following a NATO exercise in Poland on May 22 the crew was making its way south through the eastern German state of Saxony to their base in Bavaria when they came upon the multi-car wreckage on highway A72 near Plauen driving a Fiat and seemingly unaware of the halted traffic ahead including the 27-year-old Volkswagen driver Information on the current health status of the victims was unavailable The 2nd Cavalry soldiers extracted the accident victims from the mangled vehicles and gave them first aid until emergency responders arrived the soldiers received commendation certificates German police caps and a tour of a local museum “You saved people’s lives that day,” Steffen Doebric deemed the soldiers’ efforts a gesture of friendship that went beyond the call of duty “One thing is that these soldiers selflessly provided first aid in such an accident,” Lichtenberger told MDR “But I also think about the fact that they are doing their duty many thousands of kilometers away from home and are doing this duty for our safety That is another reason why we would like to thank them.” By 2020-07-20T11:47:00 Volkswagen has made its last vehicle with an internal combustion engine at the Zwickau assembly plant in Germany and is now dedicating the plant to the assembly of electric vehicles There are similar plans ahead for its plant in Emden from 2022 To continue reading this article and others like it, please SIGN-IN or REGISTER FREE today By creating your account you will be able to stay up-to-date with the latest industry developments, trends and analysis, read in-depth reports and intelligence Gain access to our exclusive content and features register free today Non-registered users are able to access one AL exclusive articles per week. You have now used your allocation.To continue reading this article and others like it, please SIGN-IN or REGISTER FREE today Flexis is localising European EV van production and shared platforms to cut costs and emissions The Chinese-owned Swedish electric vehicle maker will make the Polestar 7 in Europe to improve commercial performance EV supply chains are in flux after Trump’s IRA pause How will this affect North American logistics and global automotive strategies