Volkswagen factory in Emden

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Volkswagen factory in Emden
founding 1964
production around 189,180 vehicles (12/2019)
surface 4,300,000 m²
Employee around 8,000 (01/2020)
management Uwe Schwartz

The Volkswagen plant in Emden has been a production site of Volkswagen AG in the city of Emden since 1964 . It was built especially because of its proximity to the port for Beetle production . The VW Passat was produced from 1977, and one year later the last Beetle produced in Emden rolled off the assembly line.

Aerial view of the plant, in the background on the left the part of the port where the car handling takes place
Aerial view of the plant
Partial view of the VW plant in Emden
VW Beetle 1303 Bj. 1974
VW Passat manufactured in 2008

Factory history

In the early 1960s, Volkswagen decided on Emden as the new production location because the port of Emden is Germany's westernmost seaport and therefore offers the shortest transport routes overseas. Another reason was the high unemployment rate in East Frisia . The plant was built primarily for the export of the successful VW Beetle . In addition, the city had over 200 hectares of polded land and thus sufficient space reserves for business expansions, which could be acquired cheaply if necessary.

The plant was inaugurated after nine months of construction. Production of the VW Beetle began on December 8, 1964. 1965 Volkswagen bought in 1960 by the truck -Produzenten Bussing acquired production facility on the Larrelter polder ; However, the area is counted as part of the Port Arthur / Transvaal district by the city's statistical office . In June 1964, after only two and a half years of production, Büssing had to stop manufacturing truck transmissions in the 120,000 m² halls.

The last Beetle built in Germany left the assembly line in Emden on January 19, 1978. The Beetle Cabriolet was built by Karmann in Osnabrück until January 1980 .

The VW Passat has also been produced in Emden since 1978 . The factory in the seaport city is the “lead factory” for this model. In addition to the sedan , the estate version Variant also comes off the production line. After the end of production of the VW CC , the successor VW Arteon has been produced since 2016 . Sheet metal parts for various vehicles of the Volkswagen Group are also produced in the company's own press shop.

The Volkswagen plant in Emden is the "godfather" for the plant of the Volkswagen Group of America Chattanooga Operations, which opened in April 2011 . In Chattanooga (Tennessee) , the VW Passat (NMS) specially tailored to the American market is being built .

In August 2019, VW announced that the Emden plant would be converted into a purely electric car plant. From 2022, models will be built there based on the so-called modular electric drive kit (MEB). VW will invest one billion euros in the conversion.

Significance for Emden and the surrounding area

The Volkswagen plant is of paramount importance for the labor market in Emden and East Frisia, in particular for the city of Emden and the Aurich district . The plant employs around 8,000 people. This makes it the largest industrial production location west of Bremen and north of the Ruhr area . Of the around 29,000 employees in Emden who are subject to social security contributions, more than a quarter work for or directly for Volkswagen. The associated purchasing power in turn secures a large number of jobs, which, however, are difficult to quantify. Some employees also commute from the area around Wilhelmshaven and Oldenburg . The majority of commuters, however, come from the district of Aurich and a somewhat smaller proportion from the district of Leer .

In the port of Emden , there are two quays, which are used for car handling. As a result of the plant, the port of Emden has become the third largest car loading port in Europe after Bremerhaven and Zeebrugge . In 2008, for the first time, more than a million vehicles were handled in the port of Emden. Almost all of the Volkswagen Group's imports and exports, including its subsidiaries, go through the port of Emden. The plant has two larger loading stations. In addition, the Emden marshalling yard is now primarily used to assemble trains for Volkswagen.

In the past few years, supplier companies with around 500 employees have settled in the Frisia industrial park , on the site of the former and now demolished Frisia oil works at the gates of the Volkswagen plant. The site was previously decontaminated , primarily through EU and city funds.

Web links

Commons : Volkswagenwerk Emden  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Volkswagen AG Emden plant. Retrieved July 6, 2020 .
  2. ^ Volkswagen AG Emden plant. Retrieved July 6, 2020 .
  3. ^ Volkswagen AG Emden plant. Retrieved July 6, 2020 .
  4. ^ Volkswagen AG Emden plant. Retrieved July 6, 2020 .
  5. ^ Volkswagen AG Emden plant. Retrieved July 6, 2020 .
  6. Lovers of classic Volkswagen until around 1967; see "History" and then the year "1964"
  7. ^ H. Büssing: Mensch, Werk, Erbe, - page 184, 185. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht-Verlag, 1989, ISBN 3-525-13175-5 .
  8. Report in the Ostfriesischer Kurier on March 6, 2012 ( memento of the original from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 517 kB), accessed via the media database of the Großheide municipal administration, April 10, 2012. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.grossheide.de
  9. NDR: VW: Emden will be the second pure electric car location. Retrieved February 8, 2020 .
  10. Basic press information: Volkswagen AG Emden plant . Volkswagen Media Services. July 6, 2020. Accessed July 6, 2020.

Coordinates: 53 ° 20 ′ 51 ″  N , 7 ° 9 ′ 30 ″  E