Volkswagen targets 130,000 ID. Buzz units a year from Hanover plant

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles has ramped up production of the ID. Buzz and has outlined plans to build up to 130,000 units per year.

With the production start of the ID. Buzz, the VWCV plant in Hanover is now the third German production site for vehicles of the ID. family. With the first vehicles to be delivered to customers in the autumn, the brand is pressing ahead with the electrification of the site and securing the future of VWCV in line with the GRIP 2030 strategy.

In the course of the year the company plans to increase the plant’s daily production to a total of 900 vehicles. In future, there are plans to build up to 130,000 units per year at VWCV’s main plant.

“The ID. Buzz is a milestone in the electrification of the brand and the plant in Hanover”, says Josef Baumert, Member of the VWCV Brand Management Board for Production and Logistics. “In just eight years’ time more than 55 per cent of our vehicles in Europe will have battery-electric drive. The ID. Buzz has a leading strategic role in this”, says Baumert.

This year VWCV is planning to produce a total of around 15,000 ID. Buzz. Baumert added: “As we develop our portfolio, after 2023 we will produce up to 130,000 units of the ID. Buzz and ID. Buzz Cargo at our Hanover plant.”

Since May of this year, VWCV has produced three models at the Hanover plant. They are based on three different platforms and can have three different drives: the ID. Buzz as a battery-electric vehicle, the new Multivan as a plug-in hybrid and with conventional drive and the variants of the T6.1 with a combustion engine. In the factory the vehicles are partly produced on one line.

During the start-up of the ID. Buzz 4,000 employees in the factory were trained for the production of the new vehicles. Apprenticeships offered by VWCV in Hanover include mechatronics technician for system and high-voltage technology.

Baumert said: “Our production method is highly complex, but it enables us to respond flexibly to customer demand. We trained our employees in high-voltage technology and also adapted our apprenticeships to the new tasks.

“The workforce did a great job during this time: they accomplished training for the ID. Buzz parallel to the series production of the T6.1 and the new Multivan – and all this during the Covid-19 pandemic. I would like to thank all VWCV employees for their commitment and their determination to get the ID. Buzz off to a good start.”