What if Volkswagen helped the Chinese build cars in Europe?

The Volkswagen crisis, with the risk of plant closures in Europe, has been resolved (at least in part) with the decision not to lay off workers or close plants on the Old Continent. Of course, there will be some minor upheavals on the various production lines, but the worst seems to be behind us. However, there are still questions to be answered, including the future of the Dresden and Osnabrück plants.

Production is scheduled to continue until the end of 2025 and 2027 respectively, but the future has yet to be decided. In a press release a few weeks ago, Volkswagen stated that an "alternative global concept" is being studied for Dresden (where the ID.3 is produced), while in Osnabrück the aim is to "develop a future economic perspective for the site". What does this mean? According to rumours published by Reuters a few days ago, Volkswagen could be selling its factories to the Chinese. Now comes another rumour from the German magazine Manager Magazin, according to which the German carmaker could set up a joint venture with an Eastern European manufacturer.

The example of Stellantis

Volkswagen could follow in the footsteps of Stellantis and Leapmotor, which gave rise to Leapmotor International, a joint venture with exclusive rights to export, sell and manufacture Leapmotor products outside the Chinese region. For example, the small T03 electric city car was born in the Stellantis factory in Tychy, Poland.

The Volkswagen ID.3 in the Dresden factory

According to Manager Magazin, Wolfsburg is considering setting up a joint venture with a Chinese carmaker in Germany in order to retain ownership of the plants, increase production and enable Chinese electric cars to overcome the tariffs imposed by the European Commission. In addition, the German group could benefit from its partner's extensive know-how in the field of electric drives.

The Volkswagen ID.4 in the Emden factory

Rumour has it that there have already been initial talks between the parties, with the Emden plant (where the Volkswagen ID.4 and ID.7 are produced) at the centre of the discussions, but these were rejected due to a cost structure that would not have satisfied the Chinese manufacturer.

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