Ihe construction should begin in the spring of 2023 for an opening in 2026. For the German group, this involves setting up an innovative production tool for its “Trinity” sedan, the future “figurehead of Volkswagen’s electric fleet” capable of to compete with future Tesla models. The chosen site is in the immediate vicinity of Wolfsburg, where Volkswagen has been based since 1938, a few years after its foundation.
700 km range and autonomous driving
Severely shaken by the scandal of rigged diesel engines, the world’s second largest automotive group has resolutely headed for electrics in recent years, with tens of billions of euros in investments in the car of the future, connected and battery-powered. Trinity “represents the next generation of electric cars from Volkswagen”, with “more than 700 kilometers of autonomy”, according to a press release, the boss of the VW brand, Ralf Brandstätter, referring to “an important step for the transformation and the future of Wolfsburg”. The model will have “a CO2-neutral balance” and will be “ready for level 4 autonomous driving”, a degree of autonomy that does not require human intervention in certain specific conditions and situations.
Divide by 3 the production time of an electric car
The boss Herbert Diess continues to urge his group to a “revolution” to catch up with the American Tesla, which obtained, on Friday, the final approval to launch the production of electric vehicles in its first European factory near Berlin. Tesla plans to manufacture a car there in 10 hours, Mr. Diess noted in November, in an unflattering comparison for Volkswagen, whose largest electrical plant, in Zwickau (east), currently spends “more than 30 hours” on a model. With the Trinity model, Volkswagen now also wants to “achieve 10 hours per car”, explains the manufacturer in a press release. To achieve this, he intends to offer fewer versions of the same car for purchase, reduce the number of spare parts, further automate assembly and rely on “new logistics concepts”. “The electric manufacturing process on the model of Trinity” will be adopted by the historic factory in Wolfsburg by 2030. Meanwhile the current electric model ID.3 will be manufactured in Wolgsburg from 2023 to “meet the high demand” .
