About Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung

Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung

The Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ) is Wolfsburg's Madsack daily — the local newspaper of the Volkswagen city, published by Madsack Medien Ostniedersachsen GmbH & Co. KG (MMO), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Madsack publishing group (Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung). The paper's sold circulation, reported jointly with the sister Aller-Zeitung, stands at 19,546 copies (IVW 2/2025, Monday–Saturday), with an 87.4-percent subscription rate. The editors-in-chief are Dany Schrader and Michael Lieb.

Overview

The Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung appears Monday through Saturday, combining the Wolfsburg newsroom's local section with the Hannover-based RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND) central newsroom's general section (the "Mantel"). The local section and most sports coverage are produced in Wolfsburg; the paper is printed in Rodenberg.

The readership consists of Wolfsburg's households (around 125,000 inhabitants) — the Volkswagen workers, the VfL Wolfsburg fans, the Autostadt's city — and the surrounding region's commuters. The paper's website reaches around 3.4 million page views and 700,000 visits monthly.

History

The first edition appeared on 18 January 1951. The original publisher was the Gifhorn publisher Hugo Enke; the first office sat in Wolfsburg's Schillerteich district (Suhlgarten 8), with Wilhelm Wember as editor-in-chief. In 1954, the office moved to Porschestraße 78; in 2003, to its current address at Porschestraße 74.

On 1 January 2013, the Adolf Enke GmbH & Co. KG merged into the Madsack Medien Ostniedersachsen GmbH & Co. KG (headquartered in Peine) — the Madsack group's eastern Lower Saxony arm, also publishing the Aller-Zeitung (Gifhorn, founded 1850), the Peiner Allgemeine Zeitung, and the "Hallo Wochenende" advertising papers. The WAZ works closely with the Aller-Zeitung; their circulations are reported jointly.

Coverage and Content

The WAZ's local section covers Wolfsburg's city politics, the Volkswagen cosmos, and the region's particular stories: the VW plant's developments, the Autostadt's programs, the VfL Wolfsburg's seasons, and the city's growth. The paper follows the works council's deliberations, the automotive industry's transformation, and the city's cultural life.

The RND's general section supplies the comprehensive offering: Lower Saxony's state politics, national and international news, business, culture, and sports. The paper's Volkswagen-city character shapes the editorial: the carmaker's strategies, the suppliers' networks, and the electric transition. In Wolfsburg, the WAZ competes with the Wolfsburger Nachrichten — the Braunschweiger Zeitung's Kopfblatt — making the car city a rare two-daily market.

Organization and Ownership

The Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung is published by Madsack Medien Ostniedersachsen GmbH & Co. KG (MMO), Peine — a 100-percent subsidiary of Verlagsgesellschaft Madsack (Hannover). The managing directors are Carsten Winkler and Lars Rehmann; the editors-in-chief are Dany Schrader and Michael Lieb. The Wolfsburg newsroom sits at Porschestraße 74.

The joint WAZ/Aller-Zeitung circulation of 19,546 — declining 5.3 percent annually over the past decade, 10 percent in the last year — reflects the regional daily's pressures, mitigated by the 87.4-percent subscription rate. The paper's digital home is waz-online.de.

Wolfsburg: The Volkswagen City

Wolfsburg's identity — the Volkswagen plant, the Autostadt, the VfL Wolfsburg, the Mittellandkanal — gives the paper's local journalism its automotive character. The WAZ covers the VW cosmos — the models, the management, the works council — with the authority of the car city's paper.

The city's planned origins — the 1938 founding, the postwar growth, the "Reallabor" (real-world laboratory) for future mobility — and the Volkswagen's global strategies complete the beat. In Wolfsburg, where the carmaker is the city, the WAZ documents the automobile's hometown.

Readership and Market Position

The Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung serves Wolfsburg's households as the Madsack daily — its market position combining car-city intimacy with the Hannover group's resources. The competition with the Funke/BZV's Wolfsburger Nachrichten makes Wolfsburg's local journalism unusually competitive for a mid-size city.

The paper's digital growth — 3.4 million monthly page views — offsets the print decline. The waz-online.de portal, the e-paper, and the digital subscriptions form the digital strategy.

The Autostadt

The Autostadt — Volkswagen's theme park, the car delivery center, the automotive museum — is the paper's visitor-magnet beat. The WAZ covers the Autostadt's programs, the pavilions, and the tourists' flows with the attention of the car city's paper.

The Autostadt's scale — the 2000 opening, the ZeitHaus museum, the customer center — and the city's tourism complete the beat. In Wolfsburg, where the carmaker built its showcase, the WAZ's Autostadt journalism tours the exhibits.

The VfL Wolfsburg

The VfL Wolfsburg — the Bundesliga club, the Volkswagen's team, the 2009 champions — is the paper's sporting signature. The WAZ covers the Wolves' seasons, the Volkswagen Arena, and the fans' passions with the devotion of the club's paper.

The club's story — the 1945 founding, the VW patronage, the women's team's triumphs — gives the sports journalism its green-and-white depth. In Wolfsburg, where the club is the carmaker's team, the WAZ's VfL journalism follows the Wolves.

The Electric Transition

Volkswagen's electric transition — the ID. models, the gigafactories, the software ambitions — is the paper's industrial signature. The WAZ covers the transformation's Wolfsburg impact, the workers' futures, and the plant's retooling with the gravity of the car city's paper.

The transition's stakes — the jobs, the investments, the competition — give the business journalism its voltage. In Wolfsburg, where the electric future is built, the WAZ's transition journalism charges the story.

The Works Council

The Volkswagen works council — among Germany's most powerful employee representations, the co-determination's flagship — is the paper's labor signature. The WAZ covers the council's negotiations, the collective agreements, and the workers' concerns with the authority of the co-determination's paper.

The council's power — the supervisory board's labor bench, the wage rounds, the plant's politics — gives the labor journalism its institutional depth. In Wolfsburg, where the workers co-govern, the WAZ's works-council journalism sits at the table.

The Mittellandkanal

The Mittellandkanal's waterway — the canal's course through Wolfsburg, the inland port, the logistics — frames the paper's infrastructure coverage. The WAZ covers the canal's traffic, the port's developments, and the waterway's role with the attention of the canal city's paper.

The canal's function — the freight barges, the VW logistics, the waterway's history — and the riverside recreation complete the beat. In Wolfsburg, where the canal carries the cars' parts, the WAZ's canal journalism navigates the waterway. The Madsack group's Wolfsburg commitment — the 1951 founding, the Porschestraße newsroom, the waz-online.de portal — anchors the paper's car-city presence. In Wolfsburg, where the plant is the horizon and the club the passion, the WAZ is the Volkswagen city's Madsack daily. For Wolfsburg's readers, that car city — the plant, the Autostadt, the Wolves — is the home the daily delivers. The 1951 founding's promise endures in every local section. The WAZ's car-city identity — the MMO's eastern Lower Saxony, the Porschestraße newsroom — makes it the Madsack group's most automotive paper. In Wolfsburg, the daily is the plant's newspaper. The car city's Madsack daily endures — the 1951 founding's heir, the Volkswagen's chronicler — as eastern Lower Saxony's most automotive paper. Monday to Saturday — the Volkswagen city's daily serves the car city's households. The 1951 founding's promise lives on. Daily, local, automotive to the core. Wolfsburg's Madsack daily.

Digital Presence

The paper's digital home is waz-online.de, the joint portal of the Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung and the Aller-Zeitung, reaching around 3.4 million page views and 700,000 visits monthly. The portal operates the digital subscription model with e-paper editions, apps, newsletters, and social media channels. The Wolfsburg newsroom's Volkswagen-city stories reach both the local online readers and the wider Madsack audience across eastern Lower Saxony.