50 years of Golf production in Wolfsburg
Wolfsburg and the Golf have belonged together for 50 years. Series production of the first model generation began at Volkswagen's main plant in spring 1974. The company celebrated the anniversary with a ceremony under the motto "50 years of Golf production" on Monday, June 3, 2024. Minister President Stephan Weil paid tribute to the outstanding achievements of the Volkswagen workforce and the economic importance of the Golf for the state of Lower Saxony and Germany as a business location.
Before the ceremony began, the Minister President visited Golf production. Plant Manager Rainer Fessel explained how the manual activities of the employees and AI applications are combined when assembling parts of the underbody.
"The Golf is the core of the VW brand and has stood for affordable mobility at the highest technical level for half a century. It is the Germans' favorite car, has shaped an entire generation, founded a new vehicle class and established itself as an international bestseller with over 37 million vehicles sold in more than 70 countries. “We love the Golf!”, said CEO Thomas Schäfer and announced that the Golf would be transformed into the electric future. "At the same time, it will remain 100 percent a genuine Golf in terms of design, innovation, utility and quality."
The focus of the ceremony, which was accompanied by the Volkswagen Big Band, was on the employees of the Wolfsburg plant. For example, Nicola Benenati, who has been working in Golf production for 45 years and has therefore worked on all eight generations of the Golf. And Roland Walter, who witnessed the beginnings of production of the second-generation Golf 40 years ago in the then newly built Hall 54 and talked to Viktoria Schoke, a junior foreman in Hall 12, about how production has changed over the past five decades. During this time, more than half of the 37 million Golfs sold worldwide have been produced at the company's headquarters; more than 20 million in total.
Employees presented a very special Golf at the ceremony. In the run-up to the event, employees, including many trainees, had designed a new Golf 8 with a collage of employee photos. The result is a one-of-a-kind vehicle that will now be on the road as part of the internal vehicle fleet at the plant. (Article / Photos: Volkswagen)