Volkswagen canceled its plan to produce the Volkswagen ID.3 model at its main factory in Wolfsburg, Germany. The news was shared by a company spokesperson, and it was first reported by Germany's Handelsblatt and Electrive.
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Volkswagen ID.3 sales in 2023
In 2023, Volkswagen ID.3 sales amounted to 140,800 globally, plus an additional 45,300 Cupra Born (a direct cousin). That's almost a quarter of all EVs sold by the broader Volkswagen Group last year (771,100).
No one should be surprised by the scrapping of the plan, because the ID.3 and other MEB-based models are affected by insufficient demand in Europe. This caused several issues at the site in Zwickau, Germany, including production halts and reduction of shifts.
Christian Vollmer, a Member of the Board of Management for Production, explained the decision in an interview by underlying the importance of savings. "At the end of the day, every euro that we don’t have to spend counts," he said. "For this reason, we have decided to continue to bundle the volume of the ID.3 in Zwickau and to effectively utilize the already fully scaffolded site."
That's good news for the Zwickau site in these challenging times. But the Wolfsburg site might later get some other EV assignments. The Volkswagen Group as a whole has committed to going all-electric in the coming years, but is using internal combustion and hybrid engines as a bridge until that day arrives.
In Europe, the Volkswagen ID.3 is also assembled in Dresden, Germany, but only in small volume. In the past, there were reports that the limited production at the Transparent Factory would end, but according to the recent report, the production will not be affected.
Another market for the Volkswagen ID.3 is China, where the model is produced locally by the SAIC Volkswagen joint venture in Anting.
The future of the Volkswagen ID.3 is not certain because it seems the company hoped for higher sales volume of the all-electric compact hatchback. In one of the reports, we also heard that the German manufacturer might opt for a new all-electric Golf, which would replace the ID.3 after a single generation.
