On the Dash:
- VW CEO, Oliver Blume pushes for deeper cuts as VW’s cost gap with European rivals remains unresolved
- Labor and Lower Saxony hold board majority, setting up a contentious September 4 vote
- Emden, Zwickau, Hanover and Neckarsulm still lack confirmed production plans beyond 2030
Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume pushed for deeper cost cuts at two of the company’s most vulnerable German plants Wednesday. Labor leaders rejected layoffs and plant closures ahead of a September 4 supervisory board meeting on Volkswagen’s largest restructuring ever.
Blume toured electric vehicle plants in Emden and Zwickau. He told workers that recent savings still don’t close the cost gap with Volkswagen’s European competitors.
“This journey is not over. Because we not only measure ourselves against our own past performance. We measure ourselves against the best locations in Europe,” Blume said, according to remarks the company released.
VW may double cuts
Volkswagen may double its previously announced job cuts. The company is also considering factory closures and splitting off parts of the business. Labor representatives and the state of Lower Saxony hold a majority on the supervisory board that will vote on the plan. Both groups have historically opposed major job losses.
The tension follows weeks of friction between management and staff. Volkswagen employees called the board’s public messaging “disastrous” in an internal survey earlier this week, and the supervisory board already rejected an earlier version of Blume’s restructuring plan by a 12-7 vote in July. The scale of the cuts under discussion, up to 100,000 jobs and four shuttered plants, was first reported in June.
Neither Emden nor Zwickau has a confirmed business plan past 2030. Volkswagen’s Hanover plant and Audi’s Neckarsulm plant share that status. A fifth site, Osnabrueck, could stop building vehicles as soon as next year, though a defense-industry partnership might save it.
Works council pushes back
Works council chief Daniela Cavallo ruled out layoffs and closures as solutions. Blume described plant closures as a last resort. He assured workers in Emden and Zwickau that Volkswagen will not abandon these sites, even without finalized production plans. The September 4 vote is significant beyond Germany. Such a major restructuring will ultimately influence which models Volkswagen and Audi dealerships in the U.S. will need to sell.
