VW Cuts ICE Shifts as EV Orders Surpass Gas Cars in Germany — SkimNews
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- Volkswagen confirmed that orders for pure EVs now exceed ICE orders in Germany, with sales director Martin Sander calling it a "turning point" in the industry's electrification shift.
- Wolfsburg plant (home of the gas-powered Golf and Tiguan) will see extra ICE shifts canceled, capping annual production around 580,000 vehicles rather than the previously targeted 600,000-plus.
- Emden and Zwickau EV plants are set to operate at higher capacity with at least two added shifts, with the ID. 3 Neo driving stronger utilization at Zwickau since its April European launch.
- VW ID. Polo has racked up over 40,000 orders across Europe since launching in late April, creating at least a 10-month waitlist; the Trend trim starts at €24,995 ($29,000) with a WLTP range of 334 km.
- Skoda Epiq and Cupra Raval, built alongside the ID. Polo at VW's Martorell plant in Spain, face similar demand pressure, while the new ID. Cross SUV (€27,995 in Germany) is also drawing strong early orders since July.
- VW's supervisory board approved the Future Plan 2030 earlier this month, authorizing up to 100,000 global job cuts, plant closures and a smaller lineup as the automaker races to cut costs.
- BYD, which stopped building ICE-only vehicles in 2022, was the world's sixth-largest automaker in 2025; CEO Wang Chuanfu has said the Chinese brand will surpass Toyota and Volkswagen to become the global No. 1 by 2030.
Why it matters: For the first time, EV demand is literally pulling production shifts away from gas cars at VW's home Wolfsburg plant — a concrete, measurable inflection in Europe's biggest auto market, and it arrives while VW's Future Plan 2030 authorizes up to 100,000 job cuts and Chinese rival BYD targets global No. 1 by 2030.
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