Volkswagen’s Zwickau Plant Just Produced Its Millionth EV

This production milestone comes just a little over 5 years since Zwickau started making EVs. 

In a landmark achievement for electric vehicle manufacturing, Volkswagen’s Zwickau plant has reached an impressive milestone by producing its one millionth electric car. This significant accomplishment comes approximately five and a half years after the facility’s transition to all-electric vehicle production, solidifying Volkswagen’s position as Europe’s leading EV manufacturer (Yes, the VW Group has since recently outsold Tesla in Europe).

The millionth electric vehicle, an ID.3 GTX Performance in Kings Red Metallic, rolled off the production line this week at the multi-brand manufacturing site. This anniversary model will be delivered to a Bavarian customer in the coming weeks at Volkswagen’s Transparent Factory in Dresden.

Danny Auerswald, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Sachsen GmbH, praised the workforce for their outstanding achievement: “One million electric cars produced is a strong achievement by the workforce. Despite numerous challenges in recent years, the team has always delivered the models on time, reliably and in high quality.”

Now what makes this milestone particularly notable is Zwickau’s revolutionary transformation from conventional manufacturing to electric vehicle production. The plant made history as the first Volkswagen facility to convert from 100% combustion engine production to 100% electric mobility manufacturing.

The transition began on November 4th 2019, with the official start of production for the ID.3 —the Volkswagen Group’s first model based on the innovative modular electric drive matrix (MEB). In just 26 months, the plant successfully completed a total of six vehicle production launches, culminating with the ID.5 in January 2022.

Since Volkswagen’s acquisition of the site in 1990, more than seven million vehicles have rolled off the lines at Zwickau. In 2024 alone, the plant produced 204,000 EVs.

The impact of Zwickau’s production extends far beyond the plant itself. To date, 2.3 million MEB vehicles have been delivered to customers worldwide across all Volkswagen Group brands. This incidentally also means that nearly half of all EVs from the Volkswagen Group originate from the Zwickau plant.

The Volkswagen Group has since established itself as the clear market leader in all-electric vehicles across Europe, achieving approximately 26% market share in this segment during the first quarter of 2025. EVs now represent one in five cars produced by the Volkswagen Group as of March 2025.

Uwe Kunstmann, Chairman of the General Works Council of Volkswagen Sachsen GmbH, highlighted the workforce’s contribution: “A production anniversary is always special for the workforce. It was only through the hard work of our colleagues that the one million e-cars could be built here at the site.”