Volkswagen AG
Salzgitter Plant

Plant

Built as a vehicle plant for the Volkswagen K70 in 1970, the Volkswagen component plant in Salzgitter today manufactures conventional engine variants, vehicle components as well as important e-components for electric vehicles.

The plant is currently undergoing one of the largest transformation processes in its history from the main engine to the leading battery cell lead plant. To this end, the Volkswagen Group is investing around 2 billion euros in the transformation of Salzgitter.

The Salzgitter plant is part of Volkswagen Group Components. This is an independent corporate business unit in the Group Technology division under the umbrella of Volkswagen AG and is responsible for development and manufacturing of strategic components for the Group’s vehicle-producing brands.

Production

Since the plant was founded in 1970, more than 66 million engines have been produced in Salzgitter. The power units are used in models of the brands Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Audi, ŠKODA, Seat, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles and Bugatti. Many millions of engine components are also manufactured in Salzgitter every year.

As part of the transformation towards electric mobility, the Salzgitter component plant has specialised in the production of rotors and stators, two elementary components of an electric drive. Both components are used in all models of the Volkswagen ID. family.

At the same time, production of the self-manufactured ‘made-in-Europe’ battery cells started at the end of 2025 at the first group-owned battery cell factory newly built at the site. The production that has started is to be gradually ramped up in year 2026. In a first step, an annual production capacity of up to 20 gigawatt hours will be built up in Salzgitter, which can be expanded to up to 40 gigawatt hours if required.

Plant management

Thorsten Meeske is the Manager of the Salzgitter plant. He previously worked at the site as Head of Production and as a Managing Director for Technology and Operations at ZellCo 1. The mechanical engineer has been at Volkswagen since 1999. Meeske possesses extensive experience in production, planning and quality assurance roles within the Volkswagen Group.

Thorsten Meeske will also hold the position of Managing Director and Spokesperson of the newly founded project company ZellCo GmbH.

Salzgitter battery hub

The Salzgitter site is increasingly developing into the leading battery center in Europe.

In the summer of 2022 Volkswagen entered the global battery business with the European public company PowerCo SE. From Salzgitter, the company is now responsible for development of cell technology, production of battery cells as well as the vertical integration of the value chain.

At the end of 2025, Volkswagen and PowerCo SE jointly commissioned the Salzgitter gigafactory and produced the first Unified Cells "made in Europe". With its own cell production, Volkswagen is not only securing the supply for upcoming electric models, but also control over a key technology.

Also located at the plant in Salzgitter is the Center of Excellence, or CoE for short.

The Center of Excellence Battery is the central interface between the Group brands and the cell suppliers -- and also the central authority for optimizing the costs and sustainability of the battery. By being responsible for competitively covering the Group's requirements for both battery cells and battery systems, the CoE is a key enabler for the ramp-up of attractive and affordable e-mobility.

With the PowerCenter, Volkswagen's charging and energy subsidiary Elli will connect the first stationary large-scale storage system to the grid in March 2026. The storage facility built at the Salzgitter site with a capacity of 20 megawatts and a storage capacity of 40 MWh is based on battery packs from PowerCo SE and serves as a scalable platform for energy trading.

Since 2022, the site has also been realigning its training and study programs in cooperation with the Volkswagen Academy. With the training occupation of "chemical laboratory technician", which prepares the trainees for employment in the chemical laboratory, and the dual study courses in chemistry and chemical engineering, the site ensures that its own chemistry experts are trained at an early stage.

The development of the infrastructure is progressing in parallel. With the opening of the Learning Hub in April 2024, the opening of a newly built Chemistry Training Center at the end of 2025 and the commissioning of the Battery Academy at the beginning of 2026, the site is accompanying the large wave of qualifications that will comprehensively qualify the employees from the engine plant for the new tasks and requirements in cell production with specially tailored training measures and information formats.

At the same time, the Research & Development center in Salzgitter continues to grow: Since 2022, the laboratory, testing and development capacities have been strategically expanded. Another test field is currently under construction, which is scheduled to go into operation at the beginning of 2026.

History

The Salzgitter plant, which opened in 1970, was initially the production facility for the Volkswagen K70, the first front-wheel drive and water- cooled Volkswagen model.

Engine manufacturing started in the same year. From 1975, the factory concentrated on the manufacturing of engines and engine components. The Salzgitter plant celebrated the 50th year of its existence in summer 2020.

With the Center of Excellence Battery opened in Salzgitter in 2019, Volkswagen laid the first foundations for the transformation of the site from the engine lead plant to the cell lead plant.

This was followed in July 2022 by the establishment of the European public company PowerCo SE.

The plant is currently undergoing the transition to electromobility. The dismantling of conventional production is progressing slowly but surely, digital solutions and modern production technologies are optimizing processes.

At the end of 2025, Volkswagen and PowerCo SE jointly commissioned the Salzgitter Gigafactory, which produces the first unit cells "made in Europe".

In March 2026, Volkswagen's charging and energy subsidiary Elli connected the first stationary large-scale storage system to the grid on the Volkswagen Salzgitter site.