Neckarsulm is Audi’s second German plant and its oldest by some distance. The site opened in 1873 as a knitting machine works, moved to bicycles and then motorcycles, and built its first cars in 1906 under the NSU name. NSU merged with Auto Union in 1969 to create Audi NSU Auto Union AG, and the factory has built Audis ever since.
It handles the large end of the range. The A5, A6 and A8 families are produced there, along with the e-tron GT, which is assembled at Böllinger Höfe, a separate site a few kilometres away that Audi also uses for small-series work. Ingolstadt takes the compact and mid-size cars, so the two German plants divide the line-up rather than duplicating it.
Audi reported 15,509 employees at Neckarsulm as of 31 December 2025. The main site covers around one million square metres, with roughly 300,000 more at Böllinger Höfe. Audi has also positioned the location as a software and AI base, next to the Heilbronn innovation park.
Neckarsulm is one of the four German sites left unresolved by Volkswagen Group’s Future Plan 2030, alongside Emden, Zwickau and Hannover.
