Volkswagen has announced it will temporarily suspend production of two battery-electric vehicles, the ID.3 and the Cupra Born, citing weak consumer demand.
The news comes via Reuters report sourcing a Volkswagen spokesperson who said that production at its Zwickau and Dresden plants that produce the ID.3 and Cupra Born will be suspended for two weeks in October.
That report says that “Volkswagen declined to comment on the number of employees affected,” adding that the company announced it would not be extending around 269 employee contracts at its Zwickau plant.
The temporary suspension of the Cupra Born is set to kick off at the start of October and stretch out to October 13.
The ID.3 production line in Dresden is set to come into effect on the 2nd of October and wrap up on the 16th of October.
The Volkswagen ID.3 has been on sale in Europe and North America way back in 2020, with the company set to bring a facelifted version to Australian shores in 2024.
The ID.3 received a significant overhaul headlined by a major software update for the infotainment system after receiving some scathing consumer feedback.
VW said earlier this year that the update had “systematically taken on board the wishes” of its customers that didn’t respond kindly to the user-experience of the infotainment display and the touch-sensitive inputs.
A few months after announcing that update, VW’s CEO, Thomas Schafer said in an interview that the touch-sensitive controls “definitely did a lot of damage” to the company.
“We had customers who shouldn’t be frustrated,” he said, adding that it was important not to “confuse our customers every time a new model comes out and something is completely different.”
