Wolfsburg – Volkswagen’s (ETR:VOWG p) new Trinity plant near its Wolfsburg headquarters may automate 20–30% of its production, the plant’s chief production officer said on Tuesday.
Sebastian Schmickartz said at a suppliers’ summit in Wolfsburg, “Assembly is still 90% hand work.” “With the new factory, we want to change this. “We are looking at automating 20-30% of the work.”
The German car company will build its new flagship electric sedan at the Trinity Plant. Pre-series production is set to start in 2025, and full-scale production will begin in 2026.
Schmickartz said that the key to automating more of its assembly line will be to switch to a “module-based” strategy. Using techniques like die casting, front-end, back-end, and roof modules can be made from 50 parts instead of one.
Early this year, Volkswagen’s head of brand production, Christian Vollmer, told Reuters that the company hoped that this new way of making cars would help it be more productive and keep its lead in the European market.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) made the casting method popular as an alternative to the more time-consuming method of putting together many stamped metal panels with “crush zones” to absorb energy in a crash.
