Overview
- The company’s supervisory board will vote on the 40-point turnaround plan on September 4, and an executive committee will meet on September 3 to try to bridge the gap between management, unions and the state.
- CEO Oliver Blume wants to widen cuts to as many as 50,000 jobs and to review or spin off factories and divisions as part of a urgent cost-savings push caused by tariffs, falling China sales and stronger Asian competition.
- Labour representatives and the State of Lower Saxony hold a 12-seat majority on the 20-seat supervisory board and can block the plan under existing company rules.
- If the board rejects the plan, management could call an extraordinary general meeting as soon as October or invoke Article 111 of Germany’s Stock Corporation Act to lower voting thresholds, a move that would likely trigger legal fights over the so‑called Volkswagen Law.
- Any forced restructuring risks large social and regional fallout by putting workers, local suppliers and German factory towns at risk, and could reshape how European automakers respond to rapid competition and profit pressure from China and the U.S.