{"id":2112457,"date":"2026-08-25T13:57:40","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T10:57:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2112457"},"modified":"2026-08-25T13:57:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T10:57:40","slug":"vws-future-could-shape-germanys-car-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2112457","title":{"rendered":"VW’s future could shape Germany’s car industry"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/static.dw.com\/image\/77888402_6.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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https:\/\/p.dw.com\/p\/5JJCN<\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n
VW’s management is meeting workers at the carmaker’s headquarters in Wolfsburg where they could announce big changes for the companyImage: Moritz Frankenberg\/dpa\/picture alliance<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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1. Why is Volkswagen holding crunch talks\u00a0with workers?<\/h2>\n

Volkswagen’s\u00a0<\/a>management is holding extraordinary meetings\u00a0with workers this week amid an unprecedented cost-cutting drive, including\u00a0reports of up to\u00a0100,000 job losses<\/a>\u00a0and the possible closure of several German car factories.<\/p>\n

Germany’s auto industry<\/a>\u00a0faces\u00a0a deep structural crisis\u00a0due to intense pressure from Chinese rivals, the transition to electric vehicles<\/a> (EVs),\u00a0higher production costs and other challenges.<\/p>\n

As Europe’s biggest carmaker by volume, VW has the heaviest exposure to overcapacity in its German<\/a> plants, high fixed costs and its reliance on China<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Workers have been particularly concerned by how the restructuring was communicated so far, which representatives have described as “disastrous.”<\/p>\n

Nine separate meetings will be held, starting on Tuesday at VW’s headquarters in Wolfsburg, with talks at other sites including Emden, Zwickau, Braunschweig and Hanover before the end of the week.<\/p>\n

Workers had already agreed to around 50,000 job cuts, mainly through voluntary redundancy schemes.\u00a0But management now thinks\u00a0a further 50,000 jobs<\/a> will have to be lost.<\/p>\n

2. Why does Volkswagen need to make such drastic cuts?<\/h2>\n

CEO\u00a0Oliver Blume has stressed that VW is in a “more than critical state”\u00a0and that the measures adopted so far are not enough to restore competitiveness.<\/p>\n

“We are oversized. That often makes us too slow and too complicated,”\u00a0he told staff in an interview on the company’s intranet last week.<\/p>\n

With nearly 630,000 workers<\/a>, VW has grown more bloated than its peers over decades after choosing to control more stages of production\u00a0\u2014 including components and software \u2014 while mopping up rivals\u00a0such as Skoda, Porsche, SEAT and Bugatti.<\/p>\n

The automaker was also slow to transition to EVs just as Chinese competitors gained ground, causing a large sales drop in its former\u00a0number one market \u2014\u00a0China.<\/p>\n

Blume\u00a0warned that VW is\u00a0currently over-producing\u00a0around half a million vehicles in Europe every year.<\/p>\n

While closing German factories would\u00a0be a last resort, Blume said management “cannot currently see any way of them remaining profitable in the 2030s.”<\/p>\n

Other automakers have criticized Germany’s high operating costs, including Mercedes-Benz<\/a>\u00a0CEO Ola\u00a0K\u00e4llenius,\u00a0who last month spoke of a 70% cost gap between the firm’s Hungarian and German operations.<\/p>\n

3. What reaction is expected from workers?<\/h2>\n

Blume is expected to face an angry reaction from VW employees, who rank as some of the best-paid auto workers in the world\u00a0thanks to the power and influence of unions and the works\u00a0council.<\/p>\n

After already accepting VW’s earlier restructuring plans, Christiane Benner, the head of the IG Metall union, said workers “are getting another slap in the face.”<\/p>\n

During the meeting\u00a0with workers in Wolfsburg on Tuesday,\u00a0VW works council chair\u00a0\u200cDaniela Cavallo said “trust” in Blume and the executive board “has been \u200cdamaged,” but “not yet beyond\u00a0repair.”<\/p>\n

Last month, VW’s supervisory board \u2014\u00a0which includes shareholders and worker\u00a0representatives \u2014\u00a0rejected the second round of cost-cutting proposals.<\/p>\n

The move\u00a0is further complicated as\u00a0VW is part-owned by the state of Lower Saxony<\/a>, which holds 20% of the voting rights. The state has refused to sign off on the plans, according to German media reports.<\/p>\n

“Lower Saxony is automotive country … and this must remain so,” said\u00a0Olaf Lies, the state’s premier on Monday.\u00a0“Now it is important to me that we find joint \u200bsolutions.”<\/p>\n

\"A
Volkswagen workers in Germany could face big layoffs due to red tape, US tariffs and rising competition from China, says managementImage: Moritz Frankenberg\/picture alliance\/dpa<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

4. How is Volkswagen planning on getting back on track?<\/h2>\n

Blume told the\u00a0Bild am Sonntag<\/em> newspaper last weekend that he had drawn up “the largest transformation plan in the history of the Volkswagen Group.”<\/p>\n

His Target Vision 2030 plan\u00a0aims to cut VW’s model lineup by half and lower overheads, particularly in Germany. The automaker will also reduce its global production target, which peaked at about 11 million vehicles in 2018, to 9 million a year in the future.<\/p>\n

Faced with rising\u00a0competition from China, along with US tariffs, geopolitics and red tape, Blume warned that VW management has to “assume the risks will get worse, worldwide.”<\/p>\n

Most global automakers<\/a> are struggling to react to\u00a0Chinese EVs flooding global markets, increasingly unpredictable markets and\u00a0the mounting pressure of EU net-zero rules, which include fines for not hitting emissions targets.<\/p>\n

Blume told the newspaper that the next few years would\u00a0be “decisive”\u00a0in determining which carmakers remain viable.<\/p>\n

He said although VW achieved a solid 3.8% operating margin, the profits are not\u00a0enough to invest in new technologies, products and maintain the company’s sites.<\/p>\n

Edited by: Tim Rooks<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

\n

1. Why is Volkswagen holding crunch talks\u00a0with workers?<\/h2>\n

Volkswagen’s\u00a0<\/a>management is holding extraordinary meetings\u00a0with workers this week amid an unprecedented cost-cutting drive, including\u00a0reports of up to\u00a0100,000 job losses<\/a>\u00a0and the possible closure of several German car factories.<\/p>\n

Germany’s auto industry<\/a>\u00a0faces\u00a0a deep structural crisis\u00a0due to intense pressure from Chinese rivals, the transition to electric vehicles<\/a> (EVs),\u00a0higher production costs and other challenges.<\/p>\n

As Europe’s biggest carmaker by volume, VW has the heaviest exposure to overcapacity in its German<\/a> plants, high fixed costs and its reliance on China<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Workers have been particularly concerned by how the restructuring was communicated so far, which representatives have described as “disastrous.”<\/p>\n

Nine separate meetings will be held, starting on Tuesday at VW’s headquarters in Wolfsburg, with talks at other sites including Emden, Zwickau, Braunschweig and Hanover before the end of the week.<\/p>\n

Workers had already agreed to around 50,000 job cuts, mainly through voluntary redundancy schemes.\u00a0But management now thinks\u00a0a further 50,000 jobs<\/a> will have to be lost.<\/p>\n

2. Why does Volkswagen need to make such drastic cuts?<\/h2>\n

CEO\u00a0Oliver Blume has stressed that VW is in a “more than critical state”\u00a0and that the measures adopted so far are not enough to restore competitiveness.<\/p>\n

“We are oversized. That often makes us too slow and too complicated,”\u00a0he told staff in an interview on the company’s intranet last week.<\/p>\n

With nearly 630,000 workers<\/a>, VW has grown more bloated than its peers over decades after choosing to control more stages of production\u00a0\u2014 including components and software \u2014 while mopping up rivals\u00a0such as Skoda, Porsche, SEAT and Bugatti.<\/p>\n

The automaker was also slow to transition to EVs just as Chinese competitors gained ground, causing a large sales drop in its former\u00a0number one market \u2014\u00a0China.<\/p>\n

Blume\u00a0warned that VW is\u00a0currently over-producing\u00a0around half a million vehicles in Europe every year.<\/p>\n

While closing German factories would\u00a0be a last resort, Blume said management “cannot currently see any way of them remaining profitable in the 2030s.”<\/p>\n

Other automakers have criticized Germany’s high operating costs, including Mercedes-Benz<\/a>\u00a0CEO Ola\u00a0K\u00e4llenius,\u00a0who last month spoke of a 70% cost gap between the firm’s Hungarian and German operations.<\/p>\n

3. What reaction is expected from workers?<\/h2>\n

Blume is expected to face an angry reaction from VW employees, who rank as some of the best-paid auto workers in the world\u00a0thanks to the power and influence of unions and the works\u00a0council.<\/p>\n

After already accepting VW’s earlier restructuring plans, Christiane Benner, the head of the IG Metall union, said workers “are getting another slap in the face.”<\/p>\n

During the meeting\u00a0with workers in Wolfsburg on Tuesday,\u00a0VW works council chair\u00a0\u200cDaniela Cavallo said “trust” in Blume and the executive board “has been \u200cdamaged,” but “not yet beyond\u00a0repair.”<\/p>\n

Last month, VW’s supervisory board \u2014\u00a0which includes shareholders and worker\u00a0representatives \u2014\u00a0rejected the second round of cost-cutting proposals.<\/p>\n

The move\u00a0is further complicated as\u00a0VW is part-owned by the state of Lower Saxony<\/a>, which holds 20% of the voting rights. The state has refused to sign off on the plans, according to German media reports.<\/p>\n

“Lower Saxony is automotive country … and this must remain so,” said\u00a0Olaf Lies, the state’s premier on Monday.\u00a0“Now it is important to me that we find joint \u200bsolutions.”<\/p>\n

\"A
Volkswagen workers in Germany could face big layoffs due to red tape, US tariffs and rising competition from China, says managementImage: Moritz Frankenberg\/picture alliance\/dpa<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

4. How is Volkswagen planning on getting back on track?<\/h2>\n

Blume told the\u00a0Bild am Sonntag<\/em> newspaper last weekend that he had drawn up “the largest transformation plan in the history of the Volkswagen Group.”<\/p>\n

His Target Vision 2030 plan\u00a0aims to cut VW’s model lineup by half and lower overheads, particularly in Germany. The automaker will also reduce its global production target, which peaked at about 11 million vehicles in 2018, to 9 million a year in the future.<\/p>\n

Faced with rising\u00a0competition from China, along with US tariffs, geopolitics and red tape, Blume warned that VW management has to “assume the risks will get worse, worldwide.”<\/p>\n

Most global automakers<\/a> are struggling to react to\u00a0Chinese EVs flooding global markets, increasingly unpredictable markets and\u00a0the mounting pressure of EU net-zero rules, which include fines for not hitting emissions targets.<\/p>\n

Blume told the newspaper that the next few years would\u00a0be “decisive”\u00a0in determining which carmakers remain viable.<\/p>\n

He said although VW achieved a solid 3.8% operating margin, the profits are not\u00a0enough to invest in new technologies, products and maintain the company’s sites.<\/p>\n

Edited by: Tim Rooks<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Volkswagen’s\u00a0<\/a>management is holding extraordinary meetings\u00a0with workers this week amid an unprecedented cost-cutting drive, including\u00a0reports of up to\u00a0100,000 job losses<\/a>\u00a0and the possible closure of several German car factories.<\/p>\n

Germany’s auto industry<\/a>\u00a0faces\u00a0a deep structural crisis\u00a0due to intense pressure from Chinese rivals, the transition to electric vehicles<\/a> (EVs),\u00a0higher production costs and other challenges.<\/p>\n

As Europe’s biggest carmaker by volume, VW has the heaviest exposure to overcapacity in its German<\/a> plants, high fixed costs and its reliance on China<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Workers have been particularly concerned by how the restructuring was communicated so far, which representatives have described as “disastrous.”<\/p>\n

Nine separate meetings will be held, starting on Tuesday at VW’s headquarters in Wolfsburg, with talks at other sites including Emden, Zwickau, Braunschweig and Hanover before the end of the week.<\/p>\n

Workers had already agreed to around 50,000 job cuts, mainly through voluntary redundancy schemes.\u00a0But management now thinks\u00a0a further 50,000 jobs<\/a> will have to be lost.<\/p>\n

CEO\u00a0Oliver Blume has stressed that VW is in a “more than critical state”\u00a0and that the measures adopted so far are not enough to restore competitiveness.<\/p>\n

“We are oversized. That often makes us too slow and too complicated,”\u00a0he told staff in an interview on the company’s intranet last week.<\/p>\n

With nearly 630,000 workers<\/a>, VW has grown more bloated than its peers over decades after choosing to control more stages of production\u00a0\u2014 including components and software \u2014 while mopping up rivals\u00a0such as Skoda, Porsche, SEAT and Bugatti.<\/p>\n

The automaker was also slow to transition to EVs just as Chinese competitors gained ground, causing a large sales drop in its former\u00a0number one market \u2014\u00a0China.<\/p>\n

Blume\u00a0warned that VW is\u00a0currently over-producing\u00a0around half a million vehicles in Europe every year.<\/p>\n

While closing German factories would\u00a0be a last resort, Blume said management “cannot currently see any way of them remaining profitable in the 2030s.”<\/p>\n

Other automakers have criticized Germany’s high operating costs, including Mercedes-Benz<\/a>\u00a0CEO Ola\u00a0K\u00e4llenius,\u00a0who last month spoke of a 70% cost gap between the firm’s Hungarian and German operations.<\/p>\n

Blume is expected to face an angry reaction from VW employees, who rank as some of the best-paid auto workers in the world\u00a0thanks to the power and influence of unions and the works\u00a0council.<\/p>\n

After already accepting VW’s earlier restructuring plans, Christiane Benner, the head of the IG Metall union, said workers “are getting another slap in the face.”<\/p>\n

During the meeting\u00a0with workers in Wolfsburg on Tuesday,\u00a0VW works council chair\u00a0\u200cDaniela Cavallo said “trust” in Blume and the executive board “has been \u200cdamaged,” but “not yet beyond\u00a0repair.”<\/p>\n

Last month, VW’s supervisory board \u2014\u00a0which includes shareholders and worker\u00a0representatives \u2014\u00a0rejected the second round of cost-cutting proposals.<\/p>\n

The move\u00a0is further complicated as\u00a0VW is part-owned by the state of Lower Saxony<\/a>, which holds 20% of the voting rights. The state has refused to sign off on the plans, according to German media reports.<\/p>\n

“Lower Saxony is automotive country … and this must remain so,” said\u00a0Olaf Lies, the state’s premier on Monday.\u00a0“Now it is important to me that we find joint \u200bsolutions.”<\/p>\n

Blume told the\u00a0Bild am Sonntag<\/em> newspaper last weekend that he had drawn up “the largest transformation plan in the history of the Volkswagen Group.”<\/p>\n

His Target Vision 2030 plan\u00a0aims to cut VW’s model lineup by half and lower overheads, particularly in Germany. The automaker will also reduce its global production target, which peaked at about 11 million vehicles in 2018, to 9 million a year in the future.<\/p>\n

Faced with rising\u00a0competition from China, along with US tariffs, geopolitics and red tape, Blume warned that VW management has to “assume the risks will get worse, worldwide.”<\/p>\n

Most global automakers<\/a> are struggling to react to\u00a0Chinese EVs flooding global markets, increasingly unpredictable markets and\u00a0the mounting pressure of EU net-zero rules, which include fines for not hitting emissions targets.<\/p>\n

Blume told the newspaper that the next few years would\u00a0be “decisive”\u00a0in determining which carmakers remain viable.<\/p>\n

He said although VW achieved a solid 3.8% operating margin, the profits are not\u00a0enough to invest in new technologies, products and maintain the company’s sites.<\/p>\n

Edited by: Tim Rooks<\/em><\/p>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/vw-germany-car-industry-job-cuts-electric-vehicles-china\/a-78483715″]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/static.dw.com\/image\/77888402_6.jpg”] https:\/\/p.dw.com\/p\/5JJCN VW’s management is meeting workers at the carmaker’s headquarters in Wolfsburg where they could announce big changes for the companyImage: Moritz Frankenberg\/dpa\/picture alliance 1. Why is Volkswagen holding crunch talks\u00a0with workers? Volkswagen’s\u00a0management is holding extraordinary meetings\u00a0with workers this week amid an unprecedented cost-cutting drive, including\u00a0reports of up to\u00a0100,000 job losses\u00a0and the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,74],"class_list":["post-2112457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-dw-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2112457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2112457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2112457\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2112457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2112457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2112457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}