Iconic Volkswagen factory may end production due to slowing electric-car sales – report

Volkswagen’s iconic ‘Transparent Factory’ in Germany will reportedly soon produce its last car, less than three decades after the half-a-billion-dollar facility opened, according to a new report.

German publication Automobilwoche reports vehicle production at the ‘Gläserne Manufaktur’ – or Transparent Factory, named for its largely glass construction – may end due to slow sales of the Volkswagen ID.3 electric car which has been produced there since 2021.

The Transparent Factory was opened in 2002 as the home of production for the Volkswagen Phaeton, a high-priced – and ultimately unsuccessful, in most markets – rival for the Mercedes-Benz S-Class and BMW 7 Series.

Reports at the time claimed the Transparent Factory cost 186 million euros to build – which translates to approximately 308 million euros or $510 million in Australian currency when adjusted for inflation.

Despite being conceived by Ferdinand Piëch – the grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, and Volkswagen CEO at the time, who also gave the green light to the Bugatti Veyron supercar – the Phaeton was a commercial failure, with the flagship model eventually killed off in 2016.

Following a short stint producing electric variants of the Volkswagen Golf from 2017, the factory was retooled to build the similarly-sized ID.3 electric hatch from 2021.

In 2022, 6500 examples of the Volkswagen ID.3 were produced at the facility.

In Europe alone, Volkswagen sold more than 60,000 examples of the electric hatchback last year – though it is well down on the almost 73,000 sales recorded on the continent in 2021.

Even the factory that produces a majority of Volkswagen ID.3s sold – the Zwickau-Mosel Plant, located 80 minutes west of the Transparent Factory – is poised to cut 269 of its 540 staff, also due to slow sales of the electric car, Automotive News Europe last week reported.