An innovation campus is to be built at Volkswagen's (VW) Transparent Factory in the Saxon state capital of Dresden. Germany's largest car manufacturer, the Free State of Saxony and the Technical University (TU) Dresden are entering into a strategic partnership for this purpose, as announced by Volkswagen Saxony.
The plan is to create an innovation center for key fields of technology, including artificial intelligence, robotics, microelectronics and chip design. The TU will use almost half of the space in the Dresden plant in future. VW and the TU plan to invest a total of more than 50 million euros in this over the next seven years, it was reported.
"We did not take the decision to end vehicle production in the Gläserne Manufaktur after more than 20 years lightly," said Thomas Schäfer, Member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Passenger Cars. "From an economic point of view, however, it was absolutely necessary." It is therefore all the more important that a viable concept for the future is now in place. The parties had signed a letter of intent to this effect.
Employees to stay for the time being
Series production of the ID.3 electric car is scheduled to end at the Gläserne Manufaktur in mid-December. The 230 employees are to keep their jobs in Dresden for the time being, it was announced. The employees whose jobs will be discontinued in the future will be offered alternatives. These include relocation and termination agreements.
The Gläserne Manufaktur, which was once considered a prestige project for VW, was opened in 2001 as a production facility for the VW luxury model Phaeton. Production of this model was discontinued in 2016 and the e-Golf was later produced. The plant is now to be converted from January 2026, but will remain as a delivery site.
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