[DigitalToday reporter Choi Jae-won] Germany's Volkswagen has opened a vehicle dismantling line at its Zwickau plant, an electric vehicle production base, and is stepping up sales of used genuine parts and raw material recovery. It is a strategy to create a new source of revenue at existing production facilities amid worsening EV profitability and pressure for restructuring.

On Nov. 1 (local time), InsideEVs reported Volkswagen has built an eight-stage vehicle dismantling facility at the Zwickau plant. From 2027 it will dismantle 4,100 vehicles a year on a two-shift basis, deploying 100 employees who have completed retraining. It will first handle pre-production test vehicles and later expand the scope to vehicles at the end of their service life.

Zwickau is the plant that Volkswagen converted into a dedicated EV factory after investing 1.2 billion euros (about 1.8 trillion won) from 2018. It currently produces six EV models from Volkswagen, Audi and Cupra. Construction and permitting for the dismantling line were completed in nine months, bringing the project forward by three months from the original schedule.

Volkswagen has been selling genuine parts recovered there since July. Doors, bumpers, motors and transmission-related parts are the main items. It plans to supply them through dealers and repair shops to reduce the burden of repair costs and extend vehicles' service life. It also plans to separate and recover raw materials such as plastics for reuse in parts for new cars. It did not disclose parts prices or warranty terms.

Volkswagen will invest up to 90 million euros (about 134.9 billion won) in its circular economy business and receive up to 10.7 million euros (about 16.0 billion won) in support from the Saxony state government. It has also set a goal of expanding annual vehicle dismantling capacity to 15,000 units by 2030. Expectations have also emerged that if the business grows, it could support up to 1,000 jobs in the long term.

Thomas Schaefer (토마스 셰퍼), chief executive officer of the Volkswagen brand, emphasised, "Vehicle dismantling and recycling are not simply scrappage handling but the creation of new value."

But the business' profitability has not yet been proven. The Zwickau plant has not finalised a vehicle production plan beyond 2031. Whether parts resale and resource recycling can grow into a new business that sustains the plant and jobs amid management difficulties is the key question.