BYD eyes a new home in Volkswagen’s famous Transparent Factory
The city of Dresden in Germany is famous for its history and beautiful buildings. One of those buildings is a car factory made almost entirely of glass. Volkswagen used this "Transparent Factory" to show off its best engineering. Now, the quiet halls might soon fill up with the sound of workers building Chinese electric cars. Sources say that BYD is talking to Volkswagen about moving into part of the famous site.
Volkswagen stopped making cars at the Dresden plant at the end of 2025. The factory, known as the Gläserne Manufaktur, first opened its doors in 2002. It was a special project for the luxury VW Phaeton. Later, workers there built Bentley cars and the electric e-Golf. Most recently, it was the home of the ID.3. Even though it looks amazing, the factory only produced about 6,000 units of the ID.3 every year. With only 205 employees, it was more of a trophy case than a high-speed assembly line.
BYD is the biggest seller of EVs in the world, and they want a bigger piece of the European market. If the deal goes through, BYD would invest money to set up production in one half of the glass building. The other half of the factory is already spoken for. The state of Saxony and a local university, TU Dresden, want to turn that space into a center for new technology. This "innovation hub" will likely cost around €50 million to set up.
Buying or renting space from a rival might seem strange, but it helps both companies. Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume said that sharing factory space with Chinese companies is a smart move. Volkswagen is trying to shrink its global production from 12 million cars down to 9 million cars. They have a lot of extra room and not enough work to fill it. Selling or leasing parts of their factories helps them cut costs while they figure out their own future.
BYD is in negotiations to produce electric cars at Volkswagen’s iconic Dresden factory as Chinese brands look to establish a "Made in Germany" image.
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