Volkswagen’s Emden plant sits on the Ems estuary in East Frisia, in the far northwest corner of Germany, on a 4.3 million square metre site beside the port. It opened in 1964 and has built more than 12.5 million cars since.
The reason for the location was shipping. Volkswagen was selling Beetles to the United States faster than it could get them there, and a plant at a deep-water port meant finished cars could go straight onto a boat. Emden built the Beetle until January 1978, and the Passat followed, joined later by the CC and the Arteon.
Volkswagen converted Emden to electric-only production starting in 2020 while operations continued, investing more than a billion euros. ID.4 production started in May 2022, the ID.7 followed in the summer of 2023 and the ID.7 Tourer estate in 2024. The last combustion car left the line at the end of 2024. Around 7,700 people worked at the site as of December 2025.
Emden now builds the ID.4, the ID.7 and the ID.7 Tourer. The ID.4’s successor, the ID. Tiguan, was unveiled on 9 October 2026 and Volkswagen says it comes from Emden.
