{"id":93153,"date":"2026-09-04T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T06:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.opinionpublica.tv\/portada\/?p=93153"},"modified":"2026-09-03T19:28:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T01:28:12","slug":"volkswagen-plans-to-cut-50000-jobs-amid-dire-need-to-reduce-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.opinionpublica.tv\/portada\/volkswagen-plans-to-cut-50000-jobs-amid-dire-need-to-reduce-costs\/","title":{"rendered":"Volkswagen plans to cut 50,000 jobs amid dire need to reduce costs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Volkswagen<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Volkswagen said on Thursday that it would go forward with the most sweeping restructuring in its 89-year history, cutting about 50,000 additional jobs in the face of surging Chinese competition, high energy prices and a costly transition to electric vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a strong signal for the future of the Volkswagen Group,\u201d Oliver Blume, the German automotive giant\u2019s chief executive, said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The decision, announced after a meeting of Volkswagen\u2019s supervisory board, followed a tense standoff with unions representing its work force, which numbers more than 650,000 worldwide. But labor leaders backed the plan on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn this crisis situation, we fought hard for good solutions,\u201d Christiane Benner, an official with the IG Metall union, said in the statement. \u201cThe executive board now has the foundation to tackle the major tasks ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the end of 2024, Volkswagen had already agreed to reduce its work force by about 50,000 by the end of the decade. Agreements have been reached with 37,000 employees so far, the company said. The plan on Thursday would bring the total cuts to about 100,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Volkswagen, one of the world\u2019s largest carmakers, is an icon of European industry and German manufacturing. It is now also an emblem of their challenges as China has risen as the world\u2019s leading maker of autos and electric vehicles. The company\u2019s business in China powered it for decades, but its Chinese sales have plummeted. All the while, a flood of cheap Chinese cars has hollowed out German factories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fate of four factories in Germany that have been targeted for possible closure remains unclear. But the company said it had far more manufacturing capacity than it needed. It added that \u201calternative uses for these plants are being assessed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201creality\u201d is that those four plants \u2014 in Emden, Hanover, Zwickau and Neckarsulm \u2014 don\u2019t have a clear future beyond 2030, Mr. Blume said last month. \u201cWe cannot carry that disadvantage indefinitely,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There could be ways to avoid shutting factories, potentially by converting them for use by the defense industry as Germany ramps up spending to deter Russia\u2019s military threat. At its Osnabr\u00fcck site, for instance, Volkswagen is in talks with defense companies, Mr. Blume said last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Blume has said Volkswagen needs to rein in costs that are still about 30 percent higher than those of comparable companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s blindingly obvious that they desperately need to cut costs,\u201d said Matthias Schmidt, a European auto industry analyst in Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cheap imports from China are fueling calls to take tougher measures against Beijing to counter what businesses see as unfair competition. Spurred by government subsidies, Chinese carmakers began focusing on electric vehicles years ago, investments that have allowed them to capitalize on rising demand for such models. About one in five new vehicles sold in Europe is electric.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plan is more like a cease-fire than a peace treaty between worker representatives and Volkswagen management, said Ferdinand Dudenh\u00f6ffer, director of the Center Automotive Research in Bochum, Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe plan formulates many goals, but fewer concrete steps,\u201d Mr. Dudenh\u00f6ffer said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, it is a break from Volkswagen\u2019s recent feud with employees. Workers at Volkswagen, as is the case for the German carmakers Mercedes-Benz and BMW, hold half the 20 seats on the supervisory board. Shareholders also have 10 seats. At Volkswagen, however, there are additional complications. Two shareholder seats are held by the State of Lower Saxony, which owns 20 percent of the company\u2019s voting stock. And the state, home to Volkswagen\u2019s headquarters in Wolfsburg, almost always takes the side of workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Thursday, Olaf Lies, minister-president of Lower Saxony, endorsed the turnaround plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe challenges facing Volkswagen and the German automotive industry are enormous,\u201d he said. The deal, he said, signals that Volkswagen is willing to make investments and find \u201clong-term prospects\u201d for factories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the company and industrial manufacturing in Germany more widely, the crisis is \u201cexistential,\u201d said Harald Hendrikse, a managing director at Citi Research. He estimates that Volkswagen\u2019s cost to make a car across Europe far exceeds the costs at the best sites in China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company aims to produce nine million cars a year, compared with a goal of 12 million before the Covid-19 pandemic and 10 million more recently. In July, Volkswagen said it would cut the number of models it offered by as much as half in a bid to reduce costs and take on Chinese competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Volkswagen, Mr. Schmidt said, can\u2019t afford to wait.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s almost getting to the point of whether VW can survive in their current form,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s now or never.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n