Olaf Lies seeks to secure VW’s Emden plant with more electric-car production

Lower Saxony Premier Olaf Lies says Volkswagen’s Emden plant should build more electric cars rather than face the prospect of losing vehicle production altogether.

“For me as minister-president, it is inconceivable that we would no longer build cars here,” Lies said after visiting the East Frisian site with Lower Saxony Culture Minister Julia Willie Hamburg, works council representatives and the IG Metall labor union.

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For me as minister-president, it is inconceivable that we would no longer build cars here.

Lies argued that the issue is partly one of capacity utilization. Volkswagen invested billions of euros to make Emden an exclusively electric-car plant, but he said space remains for more production. “Here there is still room. Here we can build more electric cars,” he said.

He described electric mobility as a growth market and said Volkswagen is Europe’s market leader in the sector. Additional models, he argued, could improve utilization at plants whose costs vary depending on how fully they operate.

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Here there is still room. Here we can build more electric cars.

Lies called for a “very quick signal” that Volkswagen sees a future for electric-car production in East Frisia. He and Hamburg represent the state of Lower Saxony on Volkswagen’s supervisory board, which media reports said was due to meet on Friday.

The Emden plant employs about 7,700 people and is the region’s most important industrial employer. The report said the story would be updated.

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very quick signal