Volkswagen has opened its first industrial dismantling line at its Zwickau plant in Germany. The eight-stage line will first take apart pre-production cars and later end-of-life vehicles, VW said.
The numbers
- 4,100 vehicles a year from 2027, across two shifts.
- 100 employees have already been retrained for the work.
- Rebuilding the site and getting approvals took nine months, three months ahead of schedule.
- VW says used original parts from Zwickau have been on sale since July.
The business case
VW brand CEO Thomas Schäfer said: "From today, we in Zwickau don't just put cars together, we also take them apart again." VW says this new business will eventually employ up to 1,000 people, a target set in its December 2024 labor agreement for the site. InsideEVs reports that doors, bumpers, motors and transmission parts are in especially high demand. VW has not shared prices, sales volumes or warranty terms for the parts. VW also points to European recycled-content quotas for plastics and other materials that start in 2032, which will need industrial-scale dismantling.
Why it matters for Zwickau
Zwickau went all-electric after a €1.2 billion conversion and builds MEB-based models for Volkswagen, Audi and Cupra. InsideEVs notes that the plant has no vehicle production planned beyond 2031, so the recycling business gives it a second source of work. This comes as VW has paused development of the ID.Golf. Tesla has no comparable vehicle-dismantling line in Europe, though it recycles batteries.