VW in Crisis: Blume Wants to Avoid Plant Closures, Supervisory Board Continues Deliberations

Threatened Sites: Four Plants, Tens of Thousands of Employees

Following the Supervisory Board meeting, it initially remained unclear what would happen with the Audi plant in Neckarsulm (Heilbronn district) and the other sites. According to insider information, the Audi plant is also threatened with closure. A total of four VW Group plants in Germany are considered at risk: Hanover, Emden, Zwickau, and the Audi plant in Neckarsulm. At the three VW sites in Zwickau, Emden, and Neckarsulm, 40,000 people work according to earlier figures; the Hanover plant is also part of the package.

The company's works council had specifically named five German sites whose possible closure has dominated headlines for weeks: Emden, Hanover, Neckarsulm, Osnabrück, and Zwickau. More than 40,000 colleagues are employed there. The works council had given Blume a deadline of Friday to take a stance vis-à-vis the workforce.

According to "Manager Magazin," up to 100,000 jobs could be cut worldwide at Volkswagen – twice as many as previously planned. The "Bild" newspaper even wrote it could be 120,000 jobs. The company's board had previously left open how many of the more than 650,000 jobs worldwide could be affected. Blume had already announced that production capacity would be reduced by one million to nine million vehicles per year by 2030; additionally, 5,000 of the 21,000 management positions worldwide are to be cut by 2030. By 2035, the number of models is also to be reduced by half in order to produce more cost-effectively and efficiently.

Power Dynamics on the Supervisory Board

According to information from the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" citing company circles, representatives of the employees and of the state of Lower Saxony voted against the savings package on Thursday. Since one shareholder-side seat is currently vacant, employees and Lower Saxony together hold a majority of twelve to seven votes on the Supervisory Board. The state of Lower Saxony has legally strong influence over Volkswagen.

Blume meanwhile acknowledged that the ongoing savings programs were already showing effects. "Unsere Fabrikkosten in Deutschland konnten wir allein im vergangenen Jahr um durchschnittlich 20 Prozent verbessern. Ein starker Fortschritt," he said. Factory costs have already been reduced by 20 percent. At the same time, he reiterated: "Unsere Produkte sind sehr beliebt – wir verdienen nur zu wenig Geld damit. Deshalb müssen wir unsere Kosten weiter reduzieren. In allen Kostenarten."

Savings Program with Initial Results

The Group CEO warned of a more challenging competitive environment. "Unser Umfeld war noch nie so anspruchsvoll und risikobehaftet wie heute. Geopolitische Spannungen, Handelsbarrieren, Regulatorik, Marktumbrüche und intensive Konkurrenz," Blume said. The Group's brands are to overlap less in the future – models from VW, Skoda, and Seat, for example, competed with each other. According to earlier information, VW is also considering settling defense companies in the threatened plants or building its own models developed in China.

Sales Decline and China Slump

At the same time, Blume pointed to positive signals from the business. Of the new entry-level family around the ID. Polo, more than 50,000 cars were sold in the first four weeks. "Wir sind klarer Marktführer in Europa – bei Verbrennern und vollelektrischen Fahrzeugen," the Group CEO said. However, the second quarter of 2026 was sobering from the Wolfsburg perspective: The Group sold 2.08 million cars worldwide, almost 9 percent less than in the same period of the previous year. The decline accelerated – in the first quarter, the minus had still been 4 percent.

The slump in China was particularly sharp: Sales there collapsed by more than one-third to just 424,300 vehicles. Chinese manufacturers had recently increasingly established themselves in markets such as Italy, Spain, and Great Britain with plug-in hybrids. According to company information, Audi nevertheless looks back on a good fourth quarter; however, there is a minus in production profit.

The reaction from the workforce, meanwhile, is sharp. The works council stated that it condemns "dass er gleichzeitig den zehntausenden betroffenen Beschäftigten außerhalb des Managements diese Informationen weiterhin vorenthält." After the summer break, Blume must face the colleagues directly at employee meetings not only at the main plant in Wolfsburg and answer their questions.

Protest, Concern, and Political Pressure

In Neckarsulm, the uncertainty is also making waves. Mayor Steffen Hertwig (SPD) said in an SWR interview: "Die Menschen machen sich Sorgen. Ich merke das draußen, wenn ich mit den Menschen rede, und auch auf Social Media. Und das nimmt natürlich zu." Nevertheless, he continues not to doubt the future of the Audi site in his city. The plant employs around 15,000 people.

Lower Saxony's Minister President Olaf Lies (SPD) had already made clear before the meeting that the state would not agree to any development "die auf Werksschließungen als vermeintlich einfache Lösung setzt." Blume, in turn, pointed to the responsibility of politicians: "Uns geht es dabei immer auch um den Industriestandort Deutschland. Alle müssen anpacken."

What Comes Next

The meeting on Thursday was accompanied by protests across Germany, including in front of the Audi plant in Neckarsulm. There had already been numerous protest actions on Thursday. Volkswagen did not comment on individual votes in the Supervisory Board on Friday. It therefore remains unclear to what extent the original savings plans found a majority in the body – and what role the struggle over plant closures will play in the coming weeks. Blume is under pressure: The CEO is measured against his earlier reputation as a "leiser Macher, teamorientiert, höflich. Kompetent sowieso," which stands in contrast to those responsible for the VW diesel scandal. The company is also under pressure from the Piech and Porsche families. The outcome of the conflict is open.

Should plant closures actually occur, it would be an unprecedented cut in the history of the company, which according to its own account is Germany's largest automaker. The coming weeks are therefore likely to be watched with tension not only within the Group, but also in federal politics and in the affected regions.

In the meantime, it is certain that Volkswagen wants to further reduce its costs. Blume explicitly named all cost categories. In parallel, the brands are to be more clearly differentiated from one another and the model portfolio streamlined. How exactly this is to be achieved without closing plants, the Group CEO left open. But one thing is also clear: With the planned reduction of production capacity to nine million vehicles per year by 2030, the utilization of existing plants will inevitably become the decisive factor.