Investments put to the test: VW stops “Gamechanger” project - works council threatens golf veto

Volkswagen wanted to use a new production process to produce individual components for electric cars more cost-effectively. But the group is now shying away from the initial investment. Shortly before the foundation stone was laid, the construction of a production center was canceled. The works council is fuming.

Europe's largest car manufacturer Volkswagen is discontinuing an important project to modernize production at its main plant in Wolfsburg. A VW spokesman said the group will not implement the production project called 'Gamechanger' in the form previously planned. In view of the company's tense economic situation, all investments are currently being put to the test. This is also accompanied by the decision not to build a planned large-scale casting center at the site. Manufacturing using large-scale casting is cheaper. Body or structural parts are manufactured in one step. Dozens of components are currently being cast, pressed and then mostly welded.

According to the information, the development of the electric future platform SSP, on which future models such as the ID. Roc will be based. This continues unabated. According to a spokesman, VW is also sticking to the goal of making the production of the next generation of vehicles simpler, more efficient and more competitive in all plants.

VW general works council head Daniela Cavallo sharply criticized the decision. The group's board of directors, led by boss Oliver Blume, said goodbye to its own claim to technological leadership in the manufacturing process. That is an oath of revelation. We are dealing with a change in signs: 'The focus is now only on short-term profit thinking and no longer, as was the case for decades, on the future viability of the VW Group,' Cavallo is quoted in the works council newspaper 'Mitdeterminieren'.

Cavallo also sees the move as a “blatant breach” of the collective bargaining agreement reached at the end of 2024. After a hard struggle, workers and companies also agreed on investments and new products for the German VW locations. The agreement stipulated that production in Wolfsburg should be converted - and from the end of the decade for several SSP flagships around the fully electric ID. Golf is available.

The basis for this should be the most modern manufacturing technologies developed in the 'Gamechanger' project - such as large-scale casting of body parts. A cross-departmental project team has been working on this for years and a lot of investment has already been made. For example, according to the works council, the groundbreaking ceremony for the new large casting hall should have taken place next week. The employees now see competitiveness at risk: the new models will come as originally planned. However, these would apparently primarily be manufactured using existing methods - with all their disadvantages.

After the decision, the next conflict was already becoming apparent: In order to make room for the electric conversion at the main plant, production of the current Golf is actually supposed to be relocated to Mexico next year. Cavallo now put a question mark behind this: 'As long as we don't have transparency about the details, the combustion engine Golf won't leave Wolfsburg either.'

We want to demand this transparency from the supervisory board. According to Cavallo, what is unclear, among other things, is the impact on personnel requirements and production volume. 'And last but not least, it must be clarified to what extent the function of the main plant as a beacon for the group-wide production methods of the future will suffer,' she said.