Overview
- At a Wolfsburg works meeting on Tuesday, CEO Oliver Blume said the company will seek “belastbare Perspektiven” for every site within six to twelve months and described the roughly 50,000‑job figure as a theoretical calculation rather than a fixed target.
- Thousands of employees reacted angrily to Blume’s address, and works council chair Daniela Cavallo said trust in the executive board is damaged while rejecting forced layoffs and opposing plant closures.
- VW confirmed that no closures have been decided but said it cannot yet show a competitive allocation for the 2030s at Emden, Hannover, Zwickau and Audi’s Neckarsulm, putting those four German plants under special review.
- The company has begun a sequence of extraordinary Betriebsversammlungen at German sites in the coming days and expects further supervisory‑board consultations, including a session scheduled for early September, to narrow options.
- Blume tied the push to a sharp drop in margins and weaker sales, especially in China and under new trade pressures, pledged to prioritise voluntary measures such as retirements and hiring freezes, and warned that some media reports of far larger cuts remain unconfirmed speculation.