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Series production of the all-electric ID.4 started at the Volkswagen Chattanooga plant in this summer. Training is preparing the next generation for the automotive future. “E-mobility is booming in the USA – and people are loving the opportunity to help shape the future with us,” says Burkhard Ulrich, Human Resources Manager Volkswagen Chattanooga. This is where the first VW electric cars assembled in the USA will be built. The company is also creating a job boom in southern Tennessee: in order to soon be able to assemble the all-electric world SUV around the clock in three shifts, around 1200 new employees are being hired by the end of this year. "People love the opportunity to help shape the future with us."Burkhard Ulrich, Human Resources Manager Volkswagen Chattanooga A massive recruiting campaign is currently underway. Volkswagen Chattanooga is not only recruiting digitally, but also at petrol stations and on billboards. “Anyone who fills up their car here in the region will see: the company is hiring,” says Ulrich. And indeed, quite successfully: within a few months, almost a thousand new employees were found; there were about ten times more applicants. Volkswagen Chattanooga is not only hiring skilled workers for e-car production – but is also training them. The fostering of young talent starts early: even in Chattanooga’s schools, pupils can get to grips with robots, microcomputers and 3D printers, with digital design tools and topics such as renewable energies in company-sponsored E-Labs. In compact workshops and one-week summer camps, young people can learn about robot-supported high-tech automotive production. Job training based on the German model A crucial component of the “talent pipeline” is the high school “Mechatronics Academy” on the factory premises. Here, eight state teachers teach grades 11 and 12.

Starting today, the all-electric ID.5 will be coming off the production line at Volkswagen’s Zwickau site – this is the sixth electric model to come from the car plant in Saxony. One factory – six cars: an extraordinary challenge. Experts Robert Pahlow (start-up management) and Frank Schemmel (vehicle production) explain how it works. 1. Identical assembly concepts Zwickau produces models as diverse as the compact ID.3 from Volkswagen and the Q4 e-tron, an SUV from Audi. However, when it comes to what’s inside, the cars have a lot of similarities. The bumper, for example: the design is different, but the screws, tools and grips are the same. Robert Pahlow can count more than 120 instances of “identical concepts”. And the models from Zwickau are also closely related when it comes to the software. This is facilitated by the shared technical basis – the Modular Electric Drive Matrix (MEB). Volkswagen’s vehicle architecture developed specifically for electric drive gives long ranges, plenty of space inside and strong performance. 2. Flexible change Production is extremely versatile: various measures, such as a special indicator (“PR number”), guide the different models to the respective production line with so much precision that employees always know which parts they need to install.

Volkswagen R has been exciting its global community of fans with the Volkswagen brand’s most sporty and emotional models ever since. Volkswagen R has just delivered its 250,000th R model to a customer in Zurich. The special customer, Flavio Zwahlen, bought the current Golf R, the most powerful and dynamic series Golf of all times. Equipped with 320 PS, four-wheel drive and R-Performance torque vectoring, the Golf R impresses customers with its driving dynamics and look. The jubilee model is actually Flavio Zwahlen’s second Golf R. “It is the perfect car for me thanks to its inconspicuous sportiness, first-class interior and incredible sound. With the help of the 4MOTION drive system, the Golf R is also ideal for the mountains.” Peter Jost, the Head of Marketing and Sales for the Volkswagen R, said it was hardly a coincidence that the 250,000th R jubilee model was sold to a customer in Switzerland: “Switzerland is a very important market for Volkswagen R – also because of the country’s high affinity for performance and four-wheel drive. The R models are really popular here.” In addition to the Golf R32 and the other Golf R generations, Volkswagen R developed and made the models Passat R36, Touareg R50, Scirocco R and Golf R convertible. The R brand and its vehicle models fascinate their customers and are currently making a major financial contribution to VW’s transition to e-mobility.

Audi became part of the Volkswagen Group in 1965. From Trabant to Polo and Golf The Volkswagen Group continued Zwickau’s storied automotive manufacturing tradition with the establishment of Volkswagen Sachsen GmbH on December 12, 1990. The Volkswagen Group’s initial investment of 4 billion DM went into the construction of a new car manufacturing plant conceived for the production of the Golf. Sometime earlier the transition from mass production of the Trabant – which had been in operation since 1957 at the VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke – to modern new cars with catalytic converters had become apparent, so the Volkswagen Group established the Volkswagen IFA-PKW GmbH together with the IFA-Kombinat for passenger cars in the GDR on December 22, 1989. Thereafter the “East’s” Trabi and the “West’s” Polo both rolled off the assembly line at the same time from the Sachsenring plant of the IFA-Kombinats PKW over a period of three months, from May 21, 1990 to August 1990. While the last “Trabi” made at the plant was a skyblue Trabant with a Polo engine under the plastic hood. The first “Saxon” Polo was an alpine white car in a hatchback version, equipped with a 55-hp engine. A total of 17,978 cars were produced in Mosel until September 12, 1991. The start of Golf production in the assembly halls of the new automotive plant under construction on February 15, 1991, marked the launch of Volkswagen Group’s mass production at the Saxon site. By October 1991, the 20,000-car mark had already been reached and in September 1992 it had already grown to 100,000. Innovation and environmental protection Even then the Volkswagen Group was already attaching great importance to investments in the infrastructure and an improved environment at their site locations. For example, the Volkswagen Group built a natural-gas-based heating plant on the Mosel by Zwickau factory premises in November 1991, followed by a wastewater center in summer 1992.

Volkswagen has opened its modular electric drive matrix (German abbreviation: "MEB") to other manufacturers. This makes production cheaper, but also offers further advantages. You will find the six most important ones below: 1. Several brands of Volkswagen Group will use the MEB, resulting in high quantities. This way, the cost-intensive production of e-cars becomes more favourable for all parties involved. In order to reduce the high costs for the development of electric cars, Volkswagen is now offering its MEB technology platform to other car manufacturers. "The more cars based on the platform, the cheaper they will be," says Herbert Diess, Chairman of the Board of Management of the Volkswagen Group. This is an important prerequisite for making electric mobility achievable for the masses. 2. The MEB contributes to the Paris climate change agreement In order to meet the requirements of the Paris Climate Agreement, the German transport sector would have to reduce CO₂ emissions by 40 to 42 percent by 2030. This is how the "The Future of Mobility Platform" set up by the German Federal Ministry of Transport calculated it. This is only possible if between seven to ten million cars are emission-free by then. The number of new registrations of electric cars would have to increase – dramatically. The modular electric drive matrix could be a decisive factor in moving closer to this goal and thus to Volkswagen's vision of a mass-produced electric car. 3. The MEB offers more space for e-mobility and the vehicles of the future on a smaller or comparable area. With the MEB, everything is optimally matched to the requirements of electromobility. The axles are offset far apart, ensuring short overhangs. There is no combustion engine that takes up space. A cardan tunnel: unnecessary. The drive consists of an electric motor integrated in the rear axle, including power electronics and transmission, and the auxiliary units are located in the front part of the vehicle.

Following the Beetle and the Golf, it marks the start of the third major chapter for Volkswagen. The great thing about it is that it perfectly represents the principle of affordable cars for everybody. This car is helping us to make electric mobility suitable for everyday use and accessible to everyone. It was a really moving moment for the entire team when we revealed the ID.3 to the world at the IAA in Frankfurt. At what point did you notice that electric mobility was on the verge of the breakthrough that would make it accessible to everybody? E-mobility is essentially not a new subject for Volkswagen. After all, we launched our first fully electric model back in 2013 in the form of the e-up! To date, there have been three main reasons why customers have decided against buying a fully electric vehicle: price, range and a poor charging infrastructure. We have solved the first two problems with the ID.3: it will be available for less than 30,000 euros – the same price as a comparable Golf. After deducting the environment bonus paid by the state and ourselves, it will probably soon even be available for less than 24,000 euros. The range is somewhere between 330 and 550 kilometres. And there is a great deal happening in terms of the charging infrastructure. Together with other manufacturers and IONITY, we are building a network of 400 quick-charging stations throughout Europe by the end of the year. In addition, we are creating more charging options at our own locations and those of our commercial partners and entering into cooperation partnerships with supermarkets and furniture stores so that a sufficient infrastructure is established everywhere as quickly as possible.

And what about Volkswagen? There it was about more than just finding a successor for the Beetle. Engineers and designers had countless ideas for additional models both small and large. We are here to look back at those eventful times. Up until the early 1970s, it was a time of experimenting, developing and discarding. Engineers from Volkswagen, Audi, NSU and Porsche were competing for the contract. The Italian studios, which were the forerunners back then, were involved in the design: Bertone, Ghia, Ital Design and Pininfarina. Because it was no longer a matter of “merely” finding a successor to the Beetle: it was about establishing a cross-brand model family. In 1970/71 a consensus had been reached in terms of a successor for the Beetle: four cylinder in-line engine in the front, transmission also in the front, combined with a timeless body design. The shape of the Golf came from Giorgio Giugiaro. The boxy compact car captivated immediately with its practicality and quality. Now people refer to the "Golf" class. In terms of numbers, the Golf has far exceeded the Beetle. From the Volkswagen Type 3 to the Passat and Audi 80 With prosperity growing in Western Europe, the trend was moving away from entry-level vehicles to better equipped middle-class models from the mid-1960s onward. At Volkswagen, this trend was recognised early on and from 1961 the Beetle (Type 1) moved aside to make room for the Type 3, which appeared to be bigger. The air-cooled boxer engine, however, was still in the rear. This was actually a cause for concern and so the successor was planned with a front engine. After several failed projects, what was known as development order 272 was started around 1970: initially with a newly developed, transverse 4-cylinder in-line engine, which together with other Volkswagen models was meant to convey a family resemblance and fulfil the common parts strategy. The vehicle was later called the Passat.

Driving electric means driving safely: Before the battery systems of modern e-cars from Volkswagen hit the road, they have passed a lifetime of comprehensive safety checks. Dr. Michal Bruna is Head of Electronics Development and Testing at the Battery Development Center of Volkswagen Group Components in Brunswick. He explains what release tests the energy storage devices have to undergo. How are battery systems tested at Volkswagen? At the Battery Development Center in Brunswick, we test almost every conceivable case that could affect the battery system during a car’s operating life – from accidents to extreme temperatures. The safety of drivers is the most important thing for us. That is why every variant of the battery, including the software, has to prove its safety in more than 5,000 individual tests. What exactly are you investigating? Life cycle tests are an important area: We subject the battery systems to stresses in mechanical shocks such as those caused by curbs, railroad crossings or stone chippings. In a two-week vibration test, we simulate the complete life cycle of a vehicle. In other tests, the battery has to withstand thermal shock immersion, such as can occur when driving through cold water. In electric battery test rigs, we test battery systems under different climatic conditions – temperature and humidity – with required charging and discharging currents. At the end, we disassemble each battery system and check its condition. What is the division of labor within the Group?In addition to our system tests in Brunswick, there are other tests sites in the company: The Center of Excellence in Salzgitter tests the quality of the battery cells, and Technical Development in Wolfsburg tests the cell modules. This is how we ensure, for example, that each battery can actually achieve the maximum range.