Row after row of VW Transporters are driven out of a huge factory on a windy, rather fragile-looking ramp. In the 1960s, VW used images like these to advertise the diversity and success of the VW Transporter in its customer magazine "Flotter Transport".
The pictures of the colorful bus fleets came from the VW plant in Hanover. They were built after Wolfsburg ran out of space, surprising as this may sound given the dimensions of this factory on the Mittelland Canal.
Unveiled at a rather brittle press conference on November 12, 1949, the first Volkswagen Type 2 rolled off the production line in Wolfsburg on March 8, 1950. This "assembly line" was more of a cleared corner where the first panel vans and, shortly afterwards, glazed estate cars were built by hand. What they all had in common was the 25 hp engine from the Beetle, a missing rear window, but a VW logo made of cast aluminum at the rear, and the extremely modern, functional shape for a commercial vehicle at the time. At the time, the VW plant called this the "Metro design".
Out of all seams
Only 10 vehicles were produced per day in the first phase. However, the demand for them exceeded all expectations. After the first van had been delivered to a customer - incidentally the perfume manufacturer 4711 in Cologne - more and more companies opted for the robust box. Just four years later, 100,000 Transporters had rolled off the production line. And production in Wolfsburg, where the Beetle was approaching the first million mark, was bursting at the seams.
From 1954, the Volkswagen plant under Director Heinrich Nordhoff evaluated a possible second location. Over 200 such possibilities were examined, and the best solution emerged as a huge open area of 1.1 square kilometers in Hanover in the Stöcken district. The proximity to the main plant in Wolfsburg, also in the state of Lower Saxony, may also have tipped the scales.
The land purchase was contractually sealed at the end of February, and the foundation stone for the plant was laid on March 1, 1955. And on March 8, 1956, the first Transporter rolled off the production line of what was then Europe's largest automobile factory after Wolfsburg. The basic organization of the main plant was copied for Hanover.
Only 13 months
Around 62,000 vehicles were to be produced in the first year of production. In 1957 there were 91,993 vehicles. The transition from production in Wolfsburg to the factory, which was built in just 13 months, was almost seamless. In 1959, an in-house engine production facility was added to the production facilities.
A total of 16 different models have been built in Hanover to date. These include all generations of the VW Transporter from the T1 to the T6.1, plus the larger LT, the Type 181 Kübelwagen, the Type 147 Post-Kleinfourgon "Fridolin", the Taro pick-up built under license by Toyota, the Amarok and, more recently, the Multivan and the all-electric ID. Buzz.
At times, the bodyshells of the Porsche Cayenne or even the VW Beetle, which was outsourced from Wolfsburg, were also added from the body shop. This was after the Golf took over the assembly lines at the main plant in Wolfsburg in 1974. Around 11 million vehicles have left the plant to date.
In 2021, the plant underwent a major conversion with the aim of integrating the production of electric vehicles. Finally, in 2024, the last Bulli left the factory, a T6.1. Its successor, a cooperation with the former, eternal competitor Ford and its Transit, is now built in a low-wage country, Turkey. "We are fighting to bring back the Bulli", reads a poster somewhere in a corridor, elections for the VW works council are announced, strong words.
Currently two models
It is not a matter of course that a car plant can still fulfill its task after 70 years and adapt to constantly changing circumstances. Elsewhere, the large parent plants are long gone, they have been outsourced, the sites converted and often not much remains of the former bustle. In Hanover-Stöcken, however, real production is still taking place, with robots picking body parts from the sheet metal presses every second and placing them on the conveyor belt. Buzz and Multivan are married together. In the final inspection area, new VW ID. Buzz and Multivan roll off the production line, ready for delivery.
Of course, there is no rock-solid guarantee that this will continue to be the case. For the first time in history, there has been talk of plant closures at VW in the recent past. However, production of the ID. Buzz AD is currently being prepared in Hanover. This first turnkey, self-driving van is set to usher in a new era from 2027. And sales of the ID. Buzz are increasing, also thanks to new models. In addition, production of the "California" camper van versions from the smallest VW plant in Hanover-Limmer will be integrated into the main plant in Stöcken in summer 2026.
