{
  "id": 3183045,
  "title": "ERKLÄRT - Umbruch bei VW: was in den kommenden Tagen zu erwarten ist",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/25/erklart-umbruch-bei-vw-was-in-den-kommenden-tagen-zu-erwarten-ist",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-08-25T03:30:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "NZZ Wirtschaft",
    "slug": "nzz-wirtschaft",
    "url": "https://www.nzz.ch/wirtschaft/umbruch-bei-vw-was-in-den-kommenden-tagen-zu-erwarten-ist-ld.10020783"
  },
  "original_language": "de",
  "account": "Volkswagen's head executive, Oliver Blume, plans to radically restructure the company to make it more sustainable for the future. The workforce has expressed criticism. In early September, it is expected that initial decisions will be made. The German automotive industry is in crisis due to competition from China, U.S. tariffs, and a shrinking sales market, leading to job cuts at major automakers, including VW.\n\nBlume described the situation as \"more than critical\" recently. He plans to ask the supervisory board again for approval of his cost-cutting plans on September 4th. The leadership aims to significantly reduce costs and improve competitiveness. Consequently, the workforce is worried about job losses, affecting locations in Emden, Hannover, Zwickau, and Neckarsulm. The worker's representative has called for business meetings between August 25th and August 31st to gain more clarity on the situation. Blume believes VW earns too little to finance its future, and past cuts have been insufficient. \"We are overdimensioned. That often makes us slow and complicated,\" Blume explained in an interview on the company's intranet.\n\nVW faces significant challenges such as American tariffs, the decline of the Chinese market with massive price drops, geopolitical conflicts like those in the Persian Gulf, increasing competition in Europe, and stricter regulations. The worker's worries are great. Blume stated that they cannot present a competitive employment plan for the 2030s for Emden, Hannover, Zwickau, and Neckarsulm. Additionally, they must dismantle more than 500,000 vehicles per year in Europe due to overcapacity. A decision on specific factory closures has not been made yet, and it is unclear how many jobs will be lost. However, major reductions are expected. Blume mentioned that from the end of 2024, there has been an agreement among Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, and Cariad to cut around 50,000 positions in Germany by 2030. However, the already planned savings have not been enough. Blume stated that the often-cited figure of around 50,000 positions globally is not a fixed target. Like any German joint-stock company, VW has a supervisory board divided into four camps. The largest group consists of worker representatives, with chairwomen being the head of the VW works council and the chairwoman of the IG Metall trade union. The other camps include the government of Lower Saxony, the Porsche and Piech family owners, and Qatar as the third-largest shareholder. The supervisory board is complemented by a member outside the four interest groups, currently vacant. Blume is unlikely to bring measures like factory closures through the supervisory board. According to the \"VW Act,\" decisions on \"establishing and relocating production facilities\" require a two-thirds majority in the supervisory board. The positions of the works council, the IG Metall union, the Lower Saxony government, and the mayor of the VW sites are largely unified: drastic steps like factory closures must be avoided at all costs. In an online survey initiated by the works council, the workforce criticized the management's communication. To provide more clarity on the current situation, the worker's representative has called for business meetings where the management will answer the workforce's questions. Nine such meetings are planned between August 25th and August 31st, including locations in Hannover, Braunschweig, Salzgitter, Dresden, Chemnitz, and Kassel-Baunatal. The first business meeting is scheduled for August 25th in Wolfsburg, followed by meetings in Emden and Zwickau on August 26th, concluding with a meeting in Hannover on August 31st. Blume urged unity within the workforce, stating, \"Everyone must pull together.\" He said, \"We have set the largest transformation plan in the history of the Volkswagen Group.\" The coming years will be crucial in determining \"who stays in the race and who reaches the top.\" Volkswagen plans to cut up to 120,000 positions. For automotive suppliers in Switzerland, this restructuring could be an opportunity. However, some may find help too late. In 2016, VW was the world's leading automotive company, but now the management could cut up to 100,000 positions and close factories. How could this happen?",
  "summary": "Der VW-Chef Oliver Blume will den Konzern radikal umbauen, um ihn zukunftsfähig zu machen. Die Belegschaft äussert Kritik. Anfang September dürften erste Entscheide gefällt werden.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}