Factory locations, timelines, models?

[KTPhil]

I've been searching for a list of VW factories in (and outside) Germany, and the models built in them on what dates.

I've searched, and maybe I've missed it. It's probably in books but most of mine are packed away.

Anyone made a list, or know where to best find the info?

[Helfen]

You are asking for a lot of research start here;
Germany: Wolfsburg----Beetle 1938-1974, type 2 March 1950- Golf 1974 Type3 1961-73

Germany: Hanover Type 2 1956 /Engine plant within the VW Hannover factory
As well as churning out Buses, VW made the decision to build a new factory within the Hanover confines specifically to build air-cooled engines, Type 1 front suspension and rear transaxles along with Type 2 front ends. Work started on ‘Hall 2’ on 20th October 1957 and once the new building had been added, the combined frontage was now close to being half a mile in length. The engine production lines made 1,000 engines everyday, most of which were destined for Wolfsburg and transported by rail. The complete Type 1 front and rear end assemblies were also transported by rail to Wolfsburg. Hall 2 went on to produce not only the Type 1 engine, but also Type 3 ‘pancake’, Type 4 and later water-cooled engines, including the T25 Wasser-Boxer.
In July 1967, during the annual factory holiday closure, Hall 1 and 2 at Hanover was re-tooled ready for production of the new Bay Window and by 1968 production of the Type 2 passed Two Million vehicles. In 1980 the Bay was replaced by the Type 25, and by 1981 the factory had built 5 million Buses. In 1990 the front wheel drive the T4 Transporter entered production, followed by the T5 in 2004, the T5.1 in 2009 and the T6 from 2015. Along with the VW Type 2, VW Hannover has made the VW Load Transporter (LT), Taro Pick-Up, 26,531 Type 181s, 2600 Basistransporter CKD kits, MAN Trucks and today the Amarok and the bodies of Porsche Panameras.
Ian

Germany: Emden---Beetle 1974-Jan 1978//// Type 3 1973 The Emden plant, established in 1964, initially concentrated on Beetle production, especially for the North American market. ... The 12 millionth Passat built by Volkswagen plants worldwide was produced in Emden mid-2003 and the 13 millionth vehicle in the Passat family left the assembly line in Emden in September 2004.

Germany: Ingolstadt In 1964, Volkswagen acquired a 50% holding in the business, which included the new factory in Ingolstadt, the DKW and Audi brands along with the rights to the new engine design which had been funded by Daimler-Benz, who in return retained the dormant Horch trademark and the Düsseldorf factory which became a Mercedes-Benz van assembly plant. Eighteen months later, Volkswagen bought complete control of Ingolstadt, and by 1966 were using the spare capacity of the Ingolstadt plant to assemble an additional 60,000 Volkswagen Beetles per year.[25] Two-stroke engines became less popular during the 1960s as customers were more attracted to the smoother four-stroke engines. In September 1965, the DKW F102 was fitted with a four-stroke engine and a facelift for the car's front and rear. Volkswagen dumped the DKW brand because of its associations with two-stroke technology, and having classified the model internally as the F103, sold it simply as the "Audi". Later developments of the model were named after their horsepower ratings and sold as the Audi 60, 75, 80, and Super 90, selling until 1972. Initially, Volkswagen was hostile to the idea of Auto Union as a standalone entity producing its own models having acquired the company merely to boost its own production capacity through the Ingolstadt assembly plant – to the point where Volkswagen executives ordered that the Auto Union name and flags bearing the four rings were removed from the factory buildings. Then VW chief Heinz Nordhoff explicitly forbade Auto Union from any further product development. Fearing that the Volkswagen had no long term ambition for the Audi brand, Auto Union engineers under the leadership of Ludwig Kraus developed the first Audi 100 in secret, without Nordhoff's knowledge. When presented with a finished prototype, Nordhoff was so impressed he authorized the car for production, which when launched in 1968, went on to be a huge success. With this, the resurrection of the Audi brand was now complete, this being followed by the first generation Audi 80 in 1972, which would in turn provide a template for VW's new front-wheel-drive water-cooled range which debuted from the mid-1970s onward. So Nordhoff killed Auto Union and resurrected it as AUDI in response to the prototype Audi 100.

Germany: Osnabrück;
Volkswagen Beetle convertible
1949–1980
331,847

Volkswagen Karmann Ghia coupé
1955–1974
362,601

Volkswagen Karmann Ghia convertible
1957–1974
80,881

Volkswagen Karmann Ghia Type 34
1961–1969
42,505

Volkswagen Golf Mk1 convertible
1979–1993
388,522

Volkswagen Corrado
1988–1995
97,521

Volkswagen Golf Mk3 convertible
1993–1997
129,475

Volkswagen Golf Mk3 Variant
1997–1999
80,928

Volkswagen Golf Mk4 convertible
1997–2001
82,588
base Golf Mk3
Volkswagen Scirocco I
1974–1981
504,153

Volkswagen Scirocco II
1981–1992
291,497
Volkswagen Golf Mk6 Convertible
2011–2016

complete build
Porsche Cayman (Type 981c)
2012–2016

final assembly
Porsche Boxster (Type 981)
2012–2016

final assembly
Volkswagen XL 1
2014–2016

complete build
Porsche Cayenne
2015–2017

final assembly, intermediate between Leipzig and Bratislava
Volkswagen Tiguan Gen 1
2017–present

shifted paint and final assembly of last model years
of first generation Tiguan to Osnabrück

[KTPhil]

Thanks for that great list. I think graphically, so I may develop a timeline for each plant with models/components marked in different colors.

Your note: "The Emden plant, established in 1964, initially concentrated on Beetle production, especially for the North American market" may answer another thread's question about why SOME '64 Bugs have body-color paint on their access covers behind the spare...

[Helfen]

I found plenty of information on the history of Type 4 except which factory it was made. Anybody know?


Also when looking up VW Beetle production from the Emden plant I found out Emden was supplying engines, transaxles, and suspension parts to Wolfsburg for Beetle production after 1964.

Also although not auto production. But a VW factory none the less would be the Kassel remanufacturing plant for engines, transaxles.

[kamzcab86]

May not have all the info you seek, but here's a full list of Volkswagen Group factories, past and present, and the models built: https://wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Volkswagen_Group_factories .
_________________
~Kamz
1986 Cabriolet: www.Cabby-Info.com
1990 Vanagon Westfalia: Old Blue's Blog
2016 Golf GTI S
"Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance." - 孔子

[Helfen]

[KTPhil]

Here is a first cut at a graphic. I don't claim it's 100% accurate yet, and I am not saving all the sources I gathered this info from. But it is probably close, and shows the format I have in mind.

This is intended to be limited to vehicle assembly plants for cars destined for USA markets. I included early Bug production in Wolfsburg (even though imports to USA didn't start until the grand total of two in 1949) mainly for historical/sentimental reasons.

I started to segregate Convertible production, but for some plants there was not distinction made, so a little help here would be, well, helpful! Were they all by Karmann?

I'm also not sure in which years Brazil and Mexico exported Buses to the USA, if at all.

It looks to have been a common practice to move a model's production elsewhere for the last year or two (when production was small anyway), as a factory was prepared for a new model (such as the water cooled models).

Corrections and comments welcome!
(click to enlarge)

[Helfen]

KTPhil, since you added Brazil and Mexico I will add the other countries, but this is VW Beetle production ONLY.

Belgium 1954-1975. Ireland 1950-1977. Portugal 1964-1976. Yugoslavia 1973-1976. South Africa 1951-1979.

Mexico 1954- 2003. Brazil 1953-1986. Coasta Rica 1970-1975. Peru 1966-1987. Uruguay 1961-1982. Venezuela 1963-1981.

Australia 1954-1976. New Zealand 1954-1977. Indonesia 1972-1977. Malaysia 1968-1977. Philippines 1959-1977. Thailand 1972-1974.

[KTPhil]

I added Brazil and Mexico because I think they both exported to the USA. My chart was intended for USA imports only. The idea is that 99% of the cars we own or see here will be from those factories.

What started me was wondering where my Type 3 was made. I assumed Wolfsburg, but then saw a mention of production of Type 3s at Emden. Then the question about frunk access cover colors made it that much more interesting! Hopefully this will be found interesting to folks here in the USA.

However, once that's done, a more complete listing, including CKD, might be interesting to folks around the world. That's a much bigger project!

Then of course there are the component manufacturing plants... that will be a spider web for sure!

I'll probably post my question about Bay imports to the USA in the Bay forum, and link to here.

[Slow 1200]

[Slow 1200]

also AFAIK all Type 2s sold in the USA came from Germany