No. 1
in car manufacturing
8,72
million VW vehicles sold in 2022
700
suppliers
340.000
employees
Niedersachsen – The ideal location for your automotive business
Volkswagen’s headquarters are here: Europe’s largest automobile group has four vehicle production sites in Niedersachsen – Wolfsburg, Emden, Hannover and Osnabrück (approx. 700,000 vehicles in 2022) as well as the company’s battery centre in Salzgitter.
There’s huge potential for partners in the supplier industry and component construction.
Besides OEM Volkswagen, Niedersachsen is also home to special vehicle manufacturers such as Krone, MAN and FAUN, who makes electric battery and hydrogen-powered bin lorries.
The supplier industry in Niedersachsen
- Over 700 suppliers for the automotive industry are based in Niedersachsen, from system suppliers to innovative development partners
- These include global players such as Continental AG, one of the world’s biggest technology companies for sustainable and networked mobility as well as innovative specialists such as battery manufacturer Clarios in Hannover.
- Niedersachsen looks forward to welcoming you: Why not take advantage of the opportunities of such a highly developed location for your company?
Volkswagen plant in Emden
Northern Niedersachsen is a region with a future
The Volkswagen plant in Emden produced over 150,000 vehicles in 2022 with around 8,000 staff.
From 2024 the plant will only produce electric vehicles, ensuring production to state-of-the-art standards.
Niedersachsen offers the ideal infrastructure thanks to access to the port, the availability of huge amounts of renewable energy, successful networks for securing staff as well as a university landscape oriented toward real-world applications.
Electromobility in Niedersachsen
- The electrification of various forms of transport is a key element of the economic shift to net zero and thus one of the biggest challenges for economic and industrial policy of our time.
- Niedersachsen has exactly what your company needs to be part of the expansion of electromobility:
- Highly qualified and experienced employees
- Ready availability of renewable energy
A unique research and development landscape
- The Automotive Research Centre Niedersachsen (NFF) pursues state-of-the-art mobility research into electrification, networking and automation.
- The unique transdisciplinary research of the Battery LabFactory in Braunschweig covers the entire value-added cycle from material manufacture and cell production to recycling.
- With the expansion of electromobility, the importance of battery cell manufacturing and battery recycling is growing.
- The German Aerospace Centre (DLR), Institute of Transport Systems Technology focuses on automotive and railway systems as well as transport and mobility management.
The first dedicated battery cell production in Germany
The future in Niedersachsen
In Salzgitter in Niedersachsen, Volkswagen launched the construction of its first dedicated battery cell production in Germany in 2022 in the presence of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Prime Minister of Niedersachsen Stephan Weil. The plant is set to employ 20,000 people by the end of the decade.
More about battery production and recycling in Niedersachsen
The transformation of Niedersachsen as an automotive location
Automotive industry strategy dialogue
Challenge accepted: Stakeholders from industry, policymakers and the scientific community have been shaping the future of mobility together since 2019.
Major players like Volkswagen and Continental are part of it.
The result: Niedersachsen’s Automotive Agency is supporting the transformation.
Your advantage
The Automotive Agency helps all businesses in Niedersachsen to make full use of the opportunities arising from the mobility revolution.
Testing automated and networked vehicles
Unique opportunities in the Niedersachsen test field
- Niedersachsen has offered opportunities unique in Europe since 2020 to test automated and networked vehicles, especially using high-precision recording and communication technology as well as a range of simulation environments.
- The Niedersachsen test field comprises both sections of the A2, A7, A39 and A391 motorways as well as parts of the B3, B6, B243 and L295 roads spanning approx. 280 kilometres. It also includes substantial parts of Braunschweig city centre, the ADAC road safety centre in Laatzen as well as the grounds of the Deutsche Messe AG in Hannover with its state-of-the-art 5G campus network.
- Partnership with the German Aerospace Centre (DLR)
Your advantage
- The test field is an open research platform offering an excellent basis for developing research and transfer projects, and is available for your use. It is aimed at scientific facilities, industrial partners, SMEs and startups.
State-wide networks and regional automotive clusters
- The Niedersachsen Automotive Agency is the central and nationwide contact for the automotive and supplier industry as well as the mobility sector.
- The Automotive Agency primarily supports SMEs as well as institutions from the automotive industry and actively supports the sector with the various challenges of the pending transformation.
- It is partner to the transformation hubs TraWeBa (battery value chain transformation) and Transfer-X (data economy) which are funded by the federal government. Both German projects focus on knowledge and technology transfer and actively support the industry with the various challenges of the pending transformation. Other transformation hubs include MIAMy (autonomous and networked travel) and TASTE (automotive software).
Regional automotive clusters:
Your personal contact
We’re there for you
Dr. Kathrin Dümig
Transport, mobility
Friedrichswall 1
30159 Hanover
Germany