After ending car production: VW site in Dresden to become innovation campus

German car manufacturer Volkswagen will transform its assembly plant in Dresden, Saxony, into a technology center after ceasing vehicle production. The group thus keeps its promise not to close plants in Germany. VW announced this on Thursday.

When Volkswagen definitively ends its series production in Dresden at the end of the year after 23 years, the group will not close its plant, the "Transparent Factory". Together with the Free State of Saxony and the Technical University of Dresden, the company signed a letter of intent for the establishment of an innovation campus for key technology fields, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics, microelectronics, and chip design. Both sides intend to invest beyond 50 million euros in the site over the next seven years, according to a press release from the group.

Volkswagen has been struggling in recent years due to high costs and declining demand. Almost exactly a year ago, the company and the unions agreed on a new collective agreement until the end of 2030 after a marathon negotiation. In this period, operational dismissals are excluded. 35,000 jobs are to be reduced in a "socially compatible" manner. Plant closures were also ruled out. However, the future of the Transparent Factory has been uncertain for a long time. Vehicle production will end here at the end of this year. Until now, the ID.3 was assembled in Dresden. For the period from 2026 onwards, an alternative overall concept would be developed, the IG Metall said a year ago.

Timeline for the innovation campus is set

This now seems to have been found. With the cessation of production, VW will offer some of the 230 employees in Dresden a transfer to the Zwickau and Chemnitz sites or early retirement arrangements and termination agreements, the company announced. Furthermore, employees would have the option to transfer to the main plant in Wolfsburg.

The IG Metall pointed to open questions. "Production will cease in two weeks, and that means that for several people, the question of what employment they will pursue from then on is unresolved," said Stefan Ehly, First Full-time Representative of IG Metall Dresden, quoted in the regional daily newspaper Freie Presse. He demanded clarity from the company.

However, the timeline for the transformation of the Transparent Factory into an innovation campus is set. Starting in January 2026, the ID.3 production line will first be dismantled. "In mid-2026, the first joint research projects with the Technical University will start, and regular operations will begin in 2027. In the long term, TU Dresden will use almost half of the Transparent Factory's space," VW writes. The car manufacturer will retain the other half as a delivery and research center as well as an experience world.

(akn)