Wolfsburg – Europe’s largest car manufacturing complex, the Volkswagen brand, is embarking on a retraining campaign to upskill production employees in e-mobility. The move is part of the brand’s push to convert its German plants to the production of electric vehicles, following on from Zwickau and Emden passenger car plants. The Wolfsburg factory, the largest of Volkswagen’s German sites, will be transformed into an electric vehicle factory over the next few years, with the new production line for the ID.3 and the new Tiguan to be installed over the coming months.
Volkswagen’s eMotionDay training program, which runs until 2025, includes an emotional side with the introduction of the eMotionRoom. The room is designed to give the factory’s 22,000 production employees an entertaining experience of the transformation process from ICE to electric vehicles. The eMotionRoom is part of a one-day training program, and groups of four employees must solve various puzzles and problems in three intricately designed rooms, with the challenge beginning with a journey back in time to the 19th century.
The eMotionRoom is one of several innovative training and development concepts that Volkswagen is implementing as it moves towards becoming a provider of sustainable and software-oriented mobility. Gunnar Kilian, Board Member for Human Resources, said, “The more digital our world becomes, the more crucial our team’s skills become for our competitiveness.”
Gerardo Scarpino, Deputy Chairman of the General Works Council, commented that the eMotionRoom principle had already met with very positive feedback from employees in Zwickau and was included for Wolfsburg as well. The transition to e-mobility can only happen together with colleagues, inspiring and training them is crucial to collective success.
Christian Vollmer, Volkswagen Brand Board of Management Member for Production and Logistics, commented on the fundamental transformation of car manufacturing in Germany. “Wolfsburg is special in that ICE vehicles will also still be built here for many years to come. In other words: For Wolfsburg, the upcoming transformation is first and foremost about integration – interfacing smoothly with ongoing operations and with production. That is a very special challenge.”
The Wolfsburg plant is set to begin subassembly of the ID.3 this fall, followed by full production of substantial numbers of the popular electric model from mid-2024. The new production line will give Volkswagen more flexibility than ever before and will be the first at one of the brand’s passenger car plants in Germany that is able to build both MEB and ICE vehicles on the same line. An initial €460 million is being invested through early 2025, with the majority being invested in production facilities and the rest earmarked for retraining and necessary conversion measures.
