Volkswagen AG
Salzgitter Plant

Plant

Built as a vehicle plant for the K70 in 1970, the Volkswagen component plant in Salzgitter today manufactures engine variants for over 40 models in the Volkswagen Group as well as important e-components for electric vehicles. In the future, it is planned that the Salzgitter plant will become the battery centre for the Volkswagen Group. The changeover to future-oriented technologies is already taking place at a rapid pace.

Since 2019, the plant in Salzgitter has been 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 62 million engines have been produced in Salzgitter. The power units are used in models of the brands Volkswagen Passenger Cars, ŠKODA, Seat, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles and Bugatti.

Many millions of engine components are also manufactured in Salzgitter every year. In 2021, 3.7 million conrods, more than 900,000 cylinder heads, 900,000 crankcases and 830,000 crankshafts were produced, for example.

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

Plant management

Andreas Salewsky is the manager of the Salzgitter plant. The mechanical engineer has been at Volkswagen since 1999. After four years in Production Planning at the Salzgitter plant, he acted as Head of Series Planning at Volkswagen Motor Polska for three years. After returning to Salzgitter, he worked in various managerial positions from 2006 onwards before becoming Head of Production at the engine plant. Andreas Salewsky has been Plant Manager in Salzgitter since May 2019.

History

The Salzgitter plant, which opened in 1970, was initially the production facility for the Volkswagen K70. Engine manufacturing started in the same year. From 1975, the factory concentrated on the manufacturing of engines and engine components. The Salzgitter plant celebrated its 50th anniversary in summer 2020.

The plant is currently undergoing a transformation to electric mobility. With the Salzgitter Center of Excellence for Battery Cells that opened in 2019, a pilot line for battery cell production and a pilot plant for battery recycling, which started operation at the beginning of 2021, the location has already established the basis for the forthcoming construction of a battery cell factory. This is due to go into operation on the site in 2025. The Salzgitter gigafactory will manufacture unified cells for the volume segment of the Volkswagen Group. In the first stage, the factory will produce an annual capacity of 20 gigawatt-hours. It is planned to prospectively double this to a capacity of 40 gigawatt-hours.