Car company in crisis: VW supervisory board approves controversial restructuring plan

The supervisory board of the Volkswagen automobile group has approved the management board's rescue plan. The company announced after a meeting of the Executive Board that the vote was unanimous. The future plan creates the conditions to make the Volkswagen Group and its brands more efficient, more competitive and more future-oriented, it said. In the opinion of the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board, the implementation of the controversial future plan is absolutely necessary in order to maintain the competitiveness of the Volkswagen Group, which also includes Porsche and Audi, and to secure it sustainably for the future.

Volkswagen's so-called Future Plan 2030 envisages cutting a further 50,000 jobs in the coming years. The group announced that this adjustment of global personnel capacities was necessary in order to achieve the goals of the transformation program.

Four VW plants are therefore on the brink. For the Emden, Zwickau, Hanover and Neckarsulm locations, no competitive subsequent occupancy can be guaranteed on a staggered basis from 2031 to 2034, VW said. “Alternative possible uses for these works are being examined in parallel and in addition.”

In view of the unanimous approval, the CEO of the Volkswagen Group, Oliver Blume, spoke of a “strong signal for the future of the Volkswagen Group”. “We take responsibility for our entire team, for our partners and for industrial jobs worldwide,” he continued. “A three-digit billion sum” will be invested in the coming years.

Porsche welcomes the decision of the VW supervisory board, the company said in a statement, "and intends to further support the transformation efforts of the board of its core holding, Volkswagen AG."

In an initial reaction, IG Metall and the group works council emphasized that the decision had prevented an escalation. The board must now do its homework. "The board's confrontational course and communication in recent weeks has not been productive," says a joint statement from IG Metall boss Christiane Benner and works council head Daniela Cavallo.

According to Benner and Cavallo, a spin-off of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars core brand and the VW components is off the table, meaning the attack on the co-determination structures has been successfully averted. “No plant has been abandoned and, contrary to several media reports, no plant closure has been sealed,” emphasize Benner and Cavallo. »Rather, concrete solutions must now be developed for all locations - we continue to see the Executive Board as having an explicit responsibility to do so.«

Lower Saxony's Prime Minister Olaf Lies (SPD), a member of the Supervisory Board, explained: "Today's decision sends important signals: We are investing heavily in future viability and we are improving competitiveness. At the same time, we will develop long-term prospects for our locations.«

VW is in an existential crisis. The profits of Europe's largest car manufacturer have collapsed. In its former flagship market of China, the company is selling fewer and fewer cars and VW has also been left behind in terms of technology. Volkswagen has annual sales of 322 billion euros and more than 650,000 employees worldwide. Recently, however, there have been repeated discussions about plant closures and job cuts. It's about saving billions.

Only on Monday, Chief Financial Officer Arno Antlitz said at a special works meeting at the plant in Hanover that the group does not yet see any economic successor occupancy for the plant there after the current products are phased out in the early 2030s. This applies to a total of four German locations. Volkswagen wants to reduce capacity for around 500,000 vehicles across Europe. Otherwise there would be a permanent cost disadvantage of around 1.5 billion euros annually, said Antlitz.

After the surprising agreement reached by the Supervisory Board on Thursday evening, there will be no further meeting on Friday. The date for the control committee was brought forward at short notice, company circles said.

VW has found a new human resources manager in Erika Rasch. The company announced that Rasch was appointed to the Group Executive Board on October 1, 2026. The manager is moving from the automotive supplier Robert Bosch, where she was most recently responsible for human resources. The position of Human Resources Director at Volkswagen has been vacant since Gunnar Kilian left in July 2025. At that time, the company surprisingly parted ways with immediate effect from Kilian, who was largely responsible for the reduction of tens of thousands of jobs during his term of office.