Berlin. Tens of thousands of jobs threatened, entire plants under scrutiny - there is a huge need for discussion at VW: After a series of extraordinary works meetings, the last of these meetings between the board of directors and employees before possible new resolutions is taking place at Volkswagen today in Hanover. It was and is about nothing less than the future of the group, which also includes Porsche and Audi - VW is one of the largest employers in Germany.
The management wants to reduce costs and improve competitiveness, but the workforce, unions and politicians are worried about jobs and locations. The austerity measures could become more concrete at a supervisory board meeting this week. An intermediate result:
The ongoing job cuts - 50,000 jobs by 2030 - are not enough from the perspective of the board headed by CEO Oliver Blume. Management is working on a “Target Image 2030”. Since then, there have been fears for tens of thousands of additional jobs and four entire locations: Emden, Zwickau, the Audi plant in Neckarsulm and Hanover, where commercial vehicles are built. CFO Arno Antlitz meets the employees there today. He will emphasize the need for further austerity measures - as Blume did before him.
“We have to reduce complexity, consistently streamline our structures and reduce costs,” said Blume at the works meeting at the Wolfsburg plant. “Tariffs, new competitors and geopolitical risks: the entire auto industry is under enormous pressure.” The VW Group “took countermeasures early on” and began to realign the group and brands. "Our market shares are growing. But that's still not enough."
With a view to the impending job cuts, the VW boss said that the next step would be particularly concerned with costs outside of direct vehicle production - i.e.: corporate offices, central functions, development or sales.
In view of the pressure to save money, there should also be noticeable cuts in management. They are taking a close look there and cutting a quarter of the jobs, said CEO Blume at the Emden plant. “All areas must do their part; it is a feat that can only be achieved together,” he said.
Quite a lot, because the supervisory board initially rejected Blume's plan in July, according to media reports. What the CEO has already made clear and repeated to the employees: The number of 50,000 additional jobs mentioned in the “Target Image 2030” is not a “target” but a “theoretical calculation” that is derived from the costs.
“The labor costs today are more than double those of comparable European locations. And other factories are also significantly cheaper when it comes to factory costs,” says Blume in Zwickau. He sees around half of the need for adjustment in Germany.
It is also unclear whether and how many plants could close. Blume calls closures a final option that he would like to avoid. There is still no “competitive occupancy” for the 2030s for Emden, Zwickau, Neckarsulm and Hanover. “Our goal is to create resilient prospects for all locations in the next six to twelve months,” says Blume. There is talk, for example, of temporarily using locations for armaments production and also of building Chinese VW models in Germany.
The ball is in the court of the supervisory board, which, according to media reports, will meet this Friday. It is unlikely that the committee will get down to business. Blume himself had said that he wanted to secure his austerity package by the end of the year. According to media reports, at least one other concept is likely to be on the control committee's table; it comes from the employee side.
There is also resistance from the state of Lower Saxony as a major VW shareholder. Prime Minister Olaf Lies (SPD) calls for “a viable future concept”. “Factory closures and mass layoffs cannot be the solution,” says the head of government. The state of Lower Saxony is also considering joining the Osnabrück plant, where car production will end next year.
Blume emphasizes: “The situation is more than critical.” Although VW makes a profit, the group earns too little to be able to finance the future. Previous savings have not been enough. "We are oversized. That often makes us too slow and too complicated."
The group is struggling with high costs and a difficult environment. “It is not a VW crisis, but a crisis of the entire automotive industry,” says Blume. Mercedes-Benz has also already cut thousands of jobs. BMW has announced that it will cut around 8,000 jobs worldwide.
The result: Jobs in the German automotive industry are disappearing faster than in any other industrial sector. At the end of the first half of 2026, 691,500 people were still employed in the leading German industry, 42,300 fewer than a year earlier and fewer than ever since the start of the Federal Statistical Office's comparable series of figures in 2005.
The job cuts were particularly severe among suppliers. Bosch wants to cut up to 22,000 supplier jobs worldwide; at ZF there are 14,000 in Germany.
