With the realignment of GMD, Volkswagen is implementing one point of the “Future Volkswagen” program agreed jointly with the employee representatives a year ago. This envisages phasing out vehicle production in Dresden at the end of this year. Technical production capacities across Germany will be reduced by more than 730,000 vehicles per year by 2028. In addition, the company and the Works Council had agreed to cut 35,000 jobs at Volkswagen’s German sites by 2030 in a socially responsible manner. The aim of these measures is to ensure the competitiveness and future viability of the brand. In return, job security has been agreed for all employees of Volkswagen AG and Volkswagen Sachsen GmbH until 2030.
Thomas Schäfer, CEO of the Volkswagen brand: “We did not take the decision to end vehicle production in the Transparent Factory after more than 20 years lightly. From an economic point of view, however, it was absolutely necessary. It is therefore all the more important that we have been able to develop a viable future concept for the site in recent months – with a clear perspective for the coming years. Together with TU Dresden, we are transforming the Manufaktur into a place where mobility, technology and science come together.”
Michael Kretschmer, Minister President of the Free State of Saxony: “The cooperation between Volkswagen and the Free State marks a turning point for Saxony as an industrial location. The realignment of the Gläserne Manufaktur will not only create an innovation campus of national importance – we are sending a clear signal of our state’s ambition to be at the forefront of future technologies. The close partnership between Volkswagen and TU Dresden combines excellent research, industrial strength and entrepreneurial courage. It is precisely this combination that we need in order to secure our competitiveness and develop new growth dynamics. At the same time, this step is also a commitment to the people in our region. The transition after almost 25 years of vehicle production is a turning point. But it is not a departure from industrial value creation – on the contrary: we are creating the basis for even more knowledge, technology and innovation to be generated in Dresden in the future. The investments, the new research clusters and the opening up of manufacturing to start-ups will strengthen Saxony in the long term and open up attractive prospects for employment. Saxony has the power to actively shape change. With projects like this, we are proving that our state not only reacts to change, but leads it. The Gläserne Manufaktur will thus become a symbol of optimism for the future, technological excellence and the will to shape a strong Free State.”
At the beginning of next year, all 230 GMD employees will have their jobs in Dresden for the time being. This number will decrease further in the coming years due to the retirement of older employees. The company is offering socially responsible alternatives to employees whose jobs will be eliminated over the coming months and years, such as a transfer to the Zwickau and Chemnitz sites or partial retirement arrangements and termination agreements. Employees also have the option of transferring to the main plant in Wolfsburg.
The timetable for the Transparent Factory envisages that the ID.3 production line will initially be dismantled from January 2026. Preparations are also being made to convert the building into an innovation campus. The first joint research projects with the Technical University will start in mid-2026 and regular operations will begin in 2027. In the future, TU Dresden will use almost half of the space in the Gläserne Manufaktur.
Prof. Dr. Ursula M. Staudinger, Rector of Technische Universität Dresden: “We would like to express our sincere thanks to the Saxon State Government for its intensive support and the confidence it has shown in TU Dresden as a University of Excellence. We would also like to thank the VW Group, with whom we will be linked by close research cooperation in the future, which will be expressed, among other things, in the establishment of four endowed professorships, junior research groups and joint research projects for the next seven years. The TUD will set up the TUD InnoX Campus based on the model of Station F in Paris. A place where excellent research and practice-oriented transfer will be bundled together with our partners in the DRESDEN-concept Alliance and in close cooperation with strategic corporate partners in key technologies such as microelectronics, artificial intelligence, robotics, materials research, chip design, sustainable mobility and recycling science with a strong focus on industrial applications.”
In addition to the strategic partnership with TU Dresden, the Transparent Factory will remain a Volkswagen delivery and research center and world of experience. After the Autostadt in Wolfsburg, the GMD is the second largest delivery location for Volkswagen in Germany. This year alone, around 3,500 vehicles will be delivered to customers there together with the dealership partners.
With more than 100,000 visitors a year, the Manufaktur is one of the attractions of the city of Dresden and brings people into contact with Volkswagen products and the topic of vehicle construction. The open InnoXcampus concept aims to offer visitors an insight into the future topics of automotive engineering, robotics and artificial intelligence.
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Further links
👉 https://tu-dresden.de/
👉 www.volkswagen.de
Photo: Volkswagen AG
