Volkswagen presents radical future plan to supervisory board – up to 100,000 jobs at risk

Blume stated after the meeting: "Mit unserem Zukunftsplan stellen wir den Konzern auch in einem global massiv herausfordernden Umfeld noch robuster und wettbewerbsfähiger auf." The board assumes "Verantwortung für die nachhaltige Zukunft des Unternehmens – in einer Zeit, in der die Automobilindustrie weltweit stark unter Druck steht". CFO Arno Antlitz spoke of a "notwendigen, grundlegenden Neuausrichtung des Geschäftsmodells" and emphasized that the company wants to continue investing in electric vehicles and software, "gleichzeitig unsere Verbrennerfahrzeuge technologisch wettbewerbsfähig halten und unsere Präsenz auf den großen Weltmärkten stärken".

Specifically, the model range is to be gradually streamlined by up to 50 percent and the number of equipment options reduced by up to 75 percent. The Group wants to lower global production capacity from twelve to nine million vehicles per year – capacity had already been reduced by two million vehicles over the past two years. Volkswagen employs a total of 662,000 people worldwide.

Supervisory Board Rejects Austerity Package

According to information from the "Süddeutsche Zeitung", the representatives of employees and the state of Lower Saxony on the supervisory board voted against the austerity package. Since one shareholder seat is currently vacant, employees and Lower Saxony together hold a majority of 12 to 7 votes. Talks are to be continued after the summer break.

Lower Saxony's Minister President Olaf Lies (SPD), who sits on the supervisory board, firmly rejected plant closures. He had already announced in advance that the state would not agree to any development "die auf Werksschließungen als vermeintlich einfache Lösung setzt". After the meeting, Lies declared: "Werksschließungen sind keine Zukunftsstrategie für Volkswagen." The state of Lower Saxony holds 20 percent of the shares in VW.

Anger and Protest at the Sites

Group works council chairwoman Daniela Cavallo expressed outrage at the board's communication. The treatment of the workforce was "an Respektlosigkeit nicht mehr zu überbieten". Cavallo demanded: "Schluss mit diesen Verunsicherungen. Das werden wir nicht akzeptieren." In an open letter, she wrote that the future plan still has "noch große inhaltliche Lücken, Inkonsistenzen und Widersprüche".

IG Metall announced resistance to the plans. Union chief Christiane Benner said at a rally in Wolfsburg: "Im ganzen Land haben die Kolleginnen und Kollegen heute die klare Ansage gemacht: So nicht!" She considers it "für absolut unverantwortlich, wie im Moment mit der Zukunft der Menschen gespielt wird, wie Angst geschürt wird". Chief negotiator Thorsten Gröger called the board's communication an "absolutes Desaster" and warned that VW risks "einen Großkonflikt, der sich gewaschen hat".

Protests against the austerity plans had already begun in the morning. In Wolfsburg, around 500 people gathered for a rally; in Emden, IG Metall spoke of around 1,500 participants. In Zuffenhausen, according to the union, 250 Porsche employees spontaneously protested; in Ingolstadt, around 250 to 300 people gathered in front of Audi's headquarters. Actions also took place in Osnabrück, Hannover-Stöcken, and other sites.

Economic Situation and Sales Figures

According to media reports, four German plants could be affected by closures: Zwickau, Emden, the Audi plant in Neckarsulm, and the commercial vehicle plant in Hanover. According to "Der Spiegel", vehicle production there could be phased out by the end of 2034 – starting in 2031 in Zwickau and Emden, in 2032 at VW Commercial Vehicles in Hanover, and in 2034 at Audi in Neckarsulm. Around 40,000 people work at these four plants.

At the end of 2024, the board and employee representatives had already agreed on the cut of 35,000 jobs, primarily through partial retirement. At that time, the end of car production in Osnabrück and Dresden was also decided. In a joint declaration, it was recorded that redundancies for operational reasons are excluded until the end of 2030. Blume now wants to renegotiate what had been agreed in the last major negotiations with the works councils.

The Group's economic situation is tense. Last year, Volkswagen generated only 9.3 billion euros in pre-tax profit on 322 billion euros in revenue – compared to pre-pandemic times, this represents a decline of around 16 percent. In the second quarter of 2026, the Group sold 2.08 million vehicles worldwide, a decline of almost nine percent compared to the same period last year.

Particularly heavy is the weakness in China: sales there collapsed by more than a third – to just 424,300 vehicles. At the core Volkswagen brand, deliveries fell by 14 percent overall to 1.02 million vehicles. Porsche reported a decline of 16 percent, Audi a decline of just over 8 percent to 367,000 cars. Only Skoda was able to post a positive result, with growth of almost 5 percent to just under 284,000 cars.

Impact on Suppliers

The crisis is also affecting suppliers. In Austria, around 6,300 jobs are directly affected; 135 domestic companies have business relationships with Volkswagen. The Austrian transport club VCÖ stated: "Am VW-Sparkurs zeigen sich die negativen Folgen einer rückwärtsgewandten Industriepolitik in Deutschland, die auf veralteten Technologien verharrt statt zukunftsträchtige Technologien zu forcieren."

Auto expert Ferdinand Dudenhöffer from the Center Automotive Research in Bochum sees crucial questions unanswered: "Bei all den Schlagzeilen zu VW bleiben damit entscheidende Fragen offen. Man könnte auch sagen, die Unsicherheit bleibt – was wenig gut ist für Kunden, Mitarbeiter und Kapitalgeber." Saxony's Minister President Michael Kretschmer (CDU) also accused Volkswagen of having made mistakes over the past decades and called for an end to the 35-hour workweek.

Employees appeared unsettled the day after the supervisory board meeting. A staff member in Hannover-Stöcken told NDR: "Wir haben alle eine positive Einstellung, nichtsdestotrotz ist die Angst auch noch da." A colleague added: "Wir Produktionsarbeiter machen das, was wir immer können: Wir bauen Autos und hoffen, dass wir so entgegenwirken können, indem wir einfach da sind."

The works council gave Group CEO Blume an ultimatum: In the works council's own newspaper "Mitbestimmen", it was stated that Blume should "im Laufe des Tages der Belegschaft gegenüber Stellung beziehen" by Friday and comment unambiguously on the rumors. The union announced that it would "den Druck in der zweiten Jahreshälfte notfalls weiter zu erhöhen, sollte der Vorstand an seinen Plänen festhalten".

Outlook After the Summer Break

Meanwhile, Volkswagen published sales figures for the second quarter. Sales chief Marco Schubert was optimistic about the entry-level segment: more than 54,000 orders had already been received for vehicles from VW, Skoda, and Cupra – "Das liegt deutlich über unseren Erwartungen." However, the situation in China remained "herausfordernd", as Schubert summed up.

IG Metall demanded a comprehensive plan that does not rely solely on job cuts and site closures. Benner emphasized: "Dass vier Werke in Deutschland geschlossen werden, das dürfen wir als IG Metall nicht mitmachen." The employee side, however, declared itself fundamentally open to change: it knows "wie hart der wirtschaftliche Druck derzeit ist, wie eng der Wettbewerb und wie zwingend die Notwendigkeit, Dinge grundlegend zu ändern – und zwar auch mittels Stellschrauben, die schmerzvoll sein werden".

The coming weeks are considered decisive. After the summer break, talks on the future plan are to be fleshed out. Blume announced his aim of making the Group "zum attraktivsten Automobilunternehmen der Welt" by 2030. Whether this succeeds with or against the workforce will be the focus of the struggle in the coming months.