
The VW savings program is coming. And things are now getting very tight for four plants. Which cars have been built there so far and how many jobs are at stake.
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Volkswagen is planning a savings program that will have an impact on the company's locations.
Huge savings program These four VW locations now have to worry about their future
The VW savings program is coming. And things are now getting very tight for four plants. Which cars have been built there so far and how many jobs are at stake. The overview.
By Timo Schober
September 4, 2026, 1:06 p.m

VW is cutting 50,000 jobs as economic output grew by 0.3 percent in the second quarter and its annual forecast was raised to 1.2-1.4 percent. At the same time, exports, start-ups and foreign investments are increasing, while structural change and professional mobility are increasing. Chancellor Merz is trying to portray the upswing as a success for his government, even though many reforms are still pending.

The Family Business Foundation has published a list of the 50 oldest German family businesses that are all family-owned. The oldest company, The Coatinc Company in Kreuztal, was founded in 1502 and is now family-run in the 17th generation. The list shows that longevity is achieved through adaptability, international orientation and attention to detail, while East German family businesses were decimated by expropriations during the GDR era.

The article analyzes how the use of tax revenues affects citizens' trust in the state and criticizes the call for Eurobonds as a means of strengthening the euro as a reserve currency, arguing that a debt union would undermine financial discipline in the euro area and make the euro less attractive to international investors.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz has warned of further losses of industrial jobs in view of the crisis at Volkswagen and emphasized that Germany must remain an industrial country. He welcomed the preliminary agreement in the VW supervisory board, but criticized the lack of clarity for several plants. Lower Saxony's CDU state leader Sebastian Lechner accused the state government of failings and called for perspectives for the locations.

The USA exceeds the $40 trillion mark in national debt. In combination with rising long-term interest rates, the pressure on the financial markets is growing, especially in the historically weak stock market month of September.

Economist Markus Brunnermeier warns of the risks posed by AI in financial markets. Since AI systems pursue goals efficiently but often opaquely, they could distort market prices and present human actors and central banks with insoluble interpretation problems.