One of the Volkswagen Group’s largest plants is home to a state-of-the-art paint shop built by Dürr. This modern facility significantly reduces CO₂ emissions and sets new industry standards. Opened in Puebla, Mexico in January 2025, this turnkey project includes two advanced paint lines and innovative solutions such as an electric drying system, an automated high-bay warehouse, and unmanned transport systems.
Since January 2025, the Puebla factory has been able to paint up to 90 car bodies of various models per hour. The contract for the construction of the facility was signed in 2022. The modern paint shop has been designed to adapt flexibly to new models and future technologies. Its high adaptability is due to a central high-bay warehouse and the EcoProFleet autonomous transport system. Intelligent DXQ software controls the AGVs, which have been specifically designed for the paint shop. They sort car bodies predictively and deliver them precisely to the appropriate workstations. The flexible division of production lines replaces the previous rigid systems and forms the basis of Dürr’s ‘Paint Shop of the Future’ concept. This solution shortens process times and significantly reduces CO₂ emissions.
The facility has two identical painting lines, each equipped with 170 robots responsible for sealing and painting processes, as well as the appropriate application technology for sealing and coating various Volkswagen models. A key element is the EcoRS Clean F cleaning robot, which is an innovative Dürr solution that enables production to be effectively adapted to the growing variety of models. This device combines the cleaning accuracy of roller brush systems with the flexibility of robotic solutions, making it ideal for complex body contours. The investment also covers comprehensive paint and PVC delivery systems, as well as DXQ software with artificial intelligence algorithms to automate and streamline processes in the paint shop.
Dürr’s EcoInCure furnaces are powered by electricity, which reduces CO2 emissions / Photo credit: Dürr
The car body drying stage is the biggest challenge for reducing CO₂ emissions in the painting process as it consumes the most energy. However, by powering the ovens with green electricity, the paint shop in Puebla has reduced emissions by around 40% compared to installations using natural gas. “This was one of the reasons why Volkswagen opted for the EcoInCure electric drying system,” explains Bruno Welsch, Dürr’s Chief Operating Officer for Automotive. “Another distinctive feature of this solution is a special ventilation duct system that heats the car bodies from the inside. This technology ensures more uniform heating and cooling, and enables car body components such as sill profiles to be heated more directly than with conventional systems, reducing heating time by 30 per cent,” Welsch adds.
The next step in reducing CO₂ emissions is to combine an electric oven with an electric air purification system. Dürr is currently the only manufacturer on the market to offer such a comprehensive, integrated solution. This technology combines the EcoInCure body curing system with the Oxi.X.RV electric system, which purifies the exhaust air using a regenerative thermal oxidation (RTO) process without an open flame. Consequently, the process does not generate additional CO₂, and thanks to its high energy efficiency, the system can operate autothermally, maintaining the correct temperature even at low solvent concentrations. The energy generated during oxidation is recovered and used to sustain the process.
Dürr has also implemented the energy-efficient, environmentally friendly EcoDryScrubber system, which uses lime powder as a natural binding agent to separate excess paint. High-performance HEPA 12 filters effectively remove particles from the process air, and the saturated powder is automatically discharged through a pipe system without interrupting operation. Due to dry separation, the demand for fresh air in the paint booth is reduced to just 5%, maximising recirculation and reducing energy consumption by over 60% compared to traditional wet cleaning methods.
EcoDryScrubber, using lime powder as a natural binding agent to separate excess paint / Photo credit: Dürr
