VW: no new factories in Europe, but at least one in the US for Scout

There will be no new VW plant in Europe in the foreseeable future. VW CFO Arno Antlitz confirmed in an internal interview that the Trinity production version would be built in Wolfsburg. In the US, however, VW will build a new factory for its new EV brand Scout.

The carmaker had considered a new factory in the Wolfsburg district of Warmenau for the e-flagship Trinity. But these plans were now scrapped. “We will not build any new electric factories in Europe but transform the existing ones,” said the CFO in an internal interview available to the editorial team of Business Insider.

Converted Wolfsburg

It is, therefore, almost sure that the Trinity, which is being redesigned, will be built at the converted Wolfsburg main plant instead. In November, there were first reports that Group CEO Oliver Blume was questioning the construction of the planned electric car plant.

In December, the news followed that VW will invest around €460 million in the conversion of the Wolfsburg factory in a first step by the beginning of 2025. Among other models, the ID.3 will also be built there to ensure more capacity for the soon-to-be facelifted electric compact.

The Trinity production was supposed to start in 2026, but that plan has been scrapped. Instead, Blume and VW brand boss Thomas Schäfer discarded the previous design developed under Herbert Dies and initiated a new design in the direction of an SUV.

Scout in the US

So while Volkswagen is not planning any new EV factories in Europe, the group will build its own plant in the US for its new US electric car brand, Scout. “The decision to ramp up the plant itself is available as a draft resolution and has thus been made,” the magazine Automobilwoche quotes from company circles. Considerations that contract manufacturers Foxconn or Magna could build the plant for VW are, therefore, off the table.

On Monday, Audi Group boss Markus Duesmann suggested that there is a real possibility that Audi also starts building EVs in the US to take full advantage of the IRA measures regarding electric cars. The most logical solution is that this production will also occur in the brand-new Scout factory.