- The Volkswagen Group will reportedly temporarily shut down several EV production lines in Europe next month.
- The move comes as many European-built EVs destined for the U.S. market are hit by import tariffs.
- Slower-than-expected sales growth on European soil is also to blame, according to a Bloomberg report.
European production of the Audi Q4 E-Tron, Volkswagen ID.4 and Volkswagen ID.7 electric cars is expected to be affected in the following weeks, according to a Bloomberg report citing people familiar with the matter.
The Volkswagen Group factory in Zwickau, Germany, will halt production of the Audi Q4 E-Tron for a week starting Oct. 6 due to weak demand in Europe and pricing complications due to U.S. tariffs, a spokesperson for the site said. The same factory also builds the Volkswagen ID.3, ID.4 and ID.5, as well as the Seat Cupra Born. (The U.S.-market ID.4 is built in Tennessee; that plant is facing a worker furlough in October.)
The Audi Q4 E-Tron is one of the EVs affected.
Photo by: Audi
At the same time, the automaker’s factory in Emden, Germany, which assembles the ID.4 and ID.7 passenger EVs, has reduced employee hours and is expected to shut down lines for several days, according to people familiar with the matter who wanted to remain anonymous.
This is not the first time the Volkswagen Group has reduced its output of EVs in Europe, with the Zwickau factory, which was converted into an all-EV plant, being hit several times by temporary line closures.
After lackluster EV sales in 2023 and parts of 2024, Volkswagen has bounced back and is now the segment leader in Europe, thanks to a diversified portfolio of models and software updates that have eliminated many of the initial issues reported by ID.3 and ID.4 owners a few years ago.
Despite dethroning Tesla as the best-selling electric car marque, Volkswagen’s sales figures aren’t what accountants were probably expecting, with a little over 16,000 units finding new owners in Europe last month. That’s a solid 45% increase year-over-year, but it’s seemingly not enough to stop the company from temporarily idling two of its EV factories.
