Until this January 29, Volkswagen already had three factories worldwide manufacturing MEB products: Zwickau, in Germany, and Anting and Foshan in China. They are now joined by the Dresden plant, which probably means nothing even to car fans until they learn it is Volkswagen’s Transparent Factory. The symbolism this involves is not negligible.
The Transparent Factory was conceived to present what was supposed to be one of Ferdinand Piëch’s most important legacies to Volkswagen. The Phaeton was a car that would make the company compete with Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and even Audi. Its luxury level, comparable to that offered by an S-Class, was inversely proportional to its failure.
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