It is no exaggeration to say that e-mobility is part of Marco Franke’s family history. A few weeks ago, the 29-year-old carbody engineer married his girlfriend Nicole – as a wedding car, colleagues from the Volkswagen plant in Zwickau brought along a fully electric ID.3 from the employee fleet. In a few weeks’ time, the Frankes will move from Saxony to Tennessee, where Marco Franke will help prepare the production start of the ID.4 at the Chattanooga plant. The first electric SUV of the Volkswagen brand will thus do justice to its claim of being a world car in a special way: The ID.4 will not only be built and sold worldwide – it will also shape the path of people like Marco Franke, who gain experience at international locations.
On a global journey with the new ID.4
The first electric SUV from Volkswagen is to become a world car: built globally, sold globally. Marco Franke and Tayfun Sentürk accompany the ID.4 from Zwickau to Tennessee and Shanghai.
Fully electric and international: The ID.4 enters the world’s largest market segment, the compact SUV sector.
Ever since a stay in the US in 2017, Franke has been determined to get to know the United States better. Back then he spent six months in Chattanooga to help with the ramp-up of the Volkswagen Atlas – this time he plans on staying for just under two years. “The country has fascinated me from day one. I’m really happy that I’m going back,” says Franke. From November, he will be responsible for setting up new production facilities on behalf of Volkswagen Group Components. The machinery will be used to produce the ID.4, which will also be built in Chattanooga from 2022.
Soon on an e-mobility mission in the USA: Marco Franke.
Like Marco Franke, Tayfun Sentürk is on an international e-mobility mission. The 34-year-old has been living and working in Shanghai for almost a year. As a start-up manager, he is responsible for the start of production at the new Anting plant, where the SAIC Volkswagen joint venture will build electric vehicles exclusively on the basis of the modular electrification toolkit (MEB). Production of the ID.4 is scheduled to start in Anting as early as October – just a few weeks after the start of series production in Zwickau.
On an e-mobility mission in China: Tayfun Sentürk.
“I have had an exciting time,” says Sentürk about his first year in China. “The factory, the language, the culture – everything was new to me.” Sentürk, on the other hand, was familiar with electric cars from the very beginning – because before his current assignment, he coordinated the start-up management for the ID.3 in Zwickau. “It helps that I know the topics and contact persons in Germany. There are regular Skype calls almost every day. If Zwickau has a good solution, then Anting benefits – and vice versa,” he says.
Sentürk mostly uses the weekends to explore Shanghai. His impression: “People are enthusiastic about new technology. Electric cars are super popular. You drive cleanly, quietly and have great acceleration. So far, Volkswagen is not yet represented with e-models – most vehicles come from Chinese and American competitors. Sentürk is convinced that this picture will soon change: “The Chinese like e-cars and they like SUVs. They will love the ID.4.”
