VW Supervisory Board Discusses Cost-Cutting Plan: Protests at Numerous Sites, Closure of Four Plants Looms

Group CEO Oliver Blume stated on Thursday evening: "Wir machen den Volkswagen-Konzern schneller, robuster und wettbewerbsfähiger: durch weniger Komplexität, fokussierte Technologien, eine noch stärkere Ausrichtung von Produkten, Entwicklung und Produktion in den regionalen Märkten, den Abbau von Überkapazitäten, ein gestrafftes Beteiligungsportfolio und deutlich schlankere Strukturen." CFO Arno Antlitz said that the cost reductions planned to date were no longer sufficient in the current economic and geopolitical environment.

Scale of the Cost-Cutting Program

According to research by "Manager Magazin," NDR, and ARD-Plusminus, up to 100,000 of the group's total 657,000 jobs worldwide could be cut — twice as many as previously planned. As late as the end of 2024, it had been agreed with employees that operational layoffs would be ruled out through the end of 2030 and that 50,000 jobs would be eliminated, including 35,000 at the core brand and thousands at the subsidiaries Porsche and Audi. A significantly larger scale now appears to be looming.

According to information from "Der Spiegel," four plants in Germany are to be closed: Zwickau and Emden from 2031, the VW Commercial Vehicles plant in Hannover from 2032, and the Audi plant in Neckarsulm from 2034. A total of around 40,000 people work at the four sites. A reduction in investments by 45 billion euros is also reportedly planned. Global production capacity is to fall from twelve to nine million vehicles per year.

Sites Under Threat

The group's model range is to be gradually reduced by up to 50 percent, and the number of possible equipment options by as much as 75 percent. Volkswagen justified the move with market developments: in Europe, the market is saturated, and the pre-crisis level of 2019 is not expected to be reached again. In 2025, the group's operating profit had nearly halved. Over the past two years, capacity had already been reduced by two million vehicles.

IG Metall simultaneously called for protest actions at 18 German sites. The kickoff took place in the morning with around 70 shop stewards and works council members in front of the factory gate in Osnabrück, where the end of VW production has already been decided. In Emden, the union spoke of around 1,500 participants in front of the factory gate; Mayor Tim Kruithoff estimated the number at about 600, and an NDR reporter at around 300.

Protests at 18 Sites

At VW's main plant in Wolfsburg, around 500 employees gathered directly in front of the management high-rise where the supervisory board was meeting, according to IG Metall figures. With horns and sirens, they marched toward the building. Banners read: "Vereint für unsere Zukunft kämpfen." Overall works council chairwoman Daniela Cavallo and IG Metall chief Christiane Benner led the protest march.

Cavallo said after the meeting: "Es reicht! Das Fass ist zum Überlaufen gekommen." She demanded of the management board: "Schluss mit diesen Verunsicherungen." In conversation with NDR Niedersachsen, she stated: "Wir wissen, dass wir in der Krise stecken." Benner described it as "unverantwortlich" how people's futures were being toyed with by going public with the fact that "in die Öffentlichkeit geht, dass vier Werke in Deutschland geschlossen werden."

Reaction from the Employee Side

IG Metall chief Christiane Benner said at the rally in Wolfsburg: "Die Wut und Verunsicherung, die dadurch entsteht, ist verständlicherweise groß." She considers it "für absolut unverantwortlich, wie im Moment mit der Zukunft der Menschen gespielt wird, wie Angst geschürt wird." She also stated: "Dass vier Werke in Deutschland geschlossen werden, das dürfen wir als IG Metall nicht mitmachen."

Works council chairman in Baunatal, Carsten Büchling, reported: "Die Beschäftigten und ihre Familien wissen nicht, wie es weitergeht." He demanded: "Es muss doch möglich sein, ein Konzept vorzulegen, wo es nicht nur um Runterfahren, Schließen und Strukturen kaputtmachen geht." He also said: "Deshalb muss klug beraten werden, aber es darf nicht gegen die Belegschaften beraten werden."

Lower Saxony's Minister President Olaf Lies (SPD), whose state holds a 20 percent stake in VW, rejects plant closures. Employee representatives and the state of Lower Saxony hold the majority on the supervisory board. After the meeting, Lies said in front of the factory gate that the deliberations had been "sehr intensiv." An "extremer Hickhack" was taking place and a "harte und intensive Zeit vor uns" lay ahead.

Position of the State of Lower Saxony

Green state parliamentarian Andreas Hoffmann warned that the crisis was the result of years of management mistakes. He said: "Wer keine Ideen mehr hat, dem bleibt nur das Sparen." Hoffmann opposed plans to spin off the components division in Braunschweig from the group. Emden's Mayor Kruithoff issued an appeal to the management board and state government, demanding solidarity with the 7,700 employees at the site.

Dennis Schindehütte of IG Metall Nordhessen announced: "Wir rechnen damit, dass man von diesem radikalen Sparkurs und dem Kahlschlag, den man da vorhat, wieder abrückt." The union announced that it would "den Druck in der zweiten Jahreshälfte notfalls weiter zu erhöhen, sollte der Vorstand an seinen Plänen festhalten." Lower Saxony's IG Metall district leader Thorsten Gröger warned that VW was risking "einen Großkonflikt, der sich gewaschen hat."

The president of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), Hildegard Müller, sees a need for reform across the entire industry. Denying the need for action was "unsozial" because of its consequences. The director of the Center of Automotive Management, Stefan Bratzel, put it this way: "Wenn VW jetzt nicht eine grundlegend neue Struktur schafft, die langfristig tragbar ist, dann reden wir in zwei, drei Jahren tatsächlich über die Abwicklung von VW."

Industry Voices and Group Response

A VW spokesperson stated after the meeting: "Wir können nachvollziehen, dass sich die Belegschaft Sorgen um die Zukunft unseres Unternehmens macht." The management board and the supervisory board shared these concerns. They would inform about the results of the meeting "schnellstmöglich." Group CEO Blume announced: "Bis 2030 machen wir die Volkswagen Group zum attraktivsten Automobilunternehmen der Welt." The future plan represents the next phase of transformation for the company.

In the evening after the supervisory board meeting, Volkswagen sent out a "Future Plan." According to the group, the paper addresses how Volkswagen aims to become the world's most attractive company by 2030. The meeting was significantly delayed: a start at 2:30 p.m. had originally been planned, but according to the group, the meeting only began around 4:00 p.m. or 4:30 p.m.

There were also actions at the Kassel site, the group's largest components plant worldwide with around 15,000 employees. In Salzgitter, IG Metall estimated the number of participants at around 400; in Ingolstadt, between 250 and 300 people gathered according to union figures; in Zuffenhausen, 250 Porsche employees protested. Overall, the rallies were smaller than during the warning strikes in 2024, when, according to the union, more than 30,000 participants had come to the rally in Wolfsburg.