Volkswagen faces tougher savings drive after tense workplace meetings

Volkswagen’s leaders have gone directly before employees as the carmaker prepares a new savings plan that could put tens of thousands of additional jobs and several German plants at risk.

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We must reduce complexity, consistently streamline our structures and cut costs.

The company is already planning to eliminate 50,000 positions by 2030. Chief Executive Oliver Blume’s management team believes that reduction will not be enough, and is working on a new “2030 target picture.” Workers and unions fear that the next round could threaten entire sites, including Emden, Zwickau, Audi’s plant in Neckarsulm and the Hannover facility.

Hannover faces a particularly uncertain future. Volkswagen’s management currently sees no economically viable successor production there once the plant’s existing products run out in the early 2030s. The company has not yet disclosed the full shape of the new plan, and the supervisory board reportedly rejected Blume’s first savings proposal in July.

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Tariffs, new competitors and geopolitical risks: The entire automotive industry is under enormous pressure.

Blume said the group needed to reduce complexity, streamline its structures and cut costs. He pointed to tariffs, new competitors and geopolitical risks as pressures affecting the entire automotive industry. Volkswagen has started to reorganize the group and its brands, he said, but rising market share had not been enough.

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Our market shares are growing. But that is still not enough.

The expected cuts would focus especially on jobs outside direct vehicle production, including positions in the group, research and development, and sales. Management would also face reductions, with Blume saying a quarter of those jobs should go. A supervisory board meeting scheduled for this week could clarify the measures, although many details remain unresolved.

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All areas must contribute their share; it is a major effort that can succeed only together.