The Volkswagen Group can take new savings measures to cope with the delicate situation it is in. In recent months, there has been speculation about the closure of factories and cutting of 100,000 works.
© Reuters/Axel Schmidt/File Photo
25/08/2026
by
Lusa
Dit was difficult for the Volkswagen Group. In the arms of a complicated financial situation, Executive Director Oliver Blume considers that they should be taken new savings measures, when there is speculation about the closure of factories in Germany and the cutting of 100,000 jobs worldwide.
“We need to reduce complexity, simplify our structures consistently and reduce costs“, Oliver Blume said during a meeting with the workers at the group headquarters in Wolfsburg (Germany), according to the German media.
According to the responsible, “all industry is under enormous pressure” due to customs policies, new competitors and geopolitical risks.
The Volkswagen group, to which trademarks such as Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche and Seat/Cupra belong, started a restructuring process and announced, in december 2024, plans to cut 50,000 jobs in Germany.
In the last few months, Blume defended the need to reduce another 50,000 positions, doubling the number previously announced and closing four factories in Germany.
Workers contest numbers
The president of Volkswagen’s general and group of workers, Daniela Cavallo, criticized the figures advanced by the CEO, considering that the additional 50,000 redundancies are a theoretically calculated value to improve the company’s image in financial markets.
“ One cannot work with an executive president who does not tell his employees what they have to do!”, he said, criticizing the absence of a concrete plan.
Market growth is not enough and costs explain
Still, Blume recognized that group market shares are growing, but still not enough.
According to the CEO, the costs of the Volkswagen Group not related to car production are 30 percent higher than those of comparable companies.
“ In the current view, approximately half of the necessary adjustments relate to Germany and the other half at international level, for a total of around 170 companies,” he added.
Blume also warned that if the company maintains the current structure in Germany, it will face “a permanent disadvantage of around eur 1,500 million per year“.
“ That is precisely why we are under enormous pressure to act”, he stressed.
The meeting in Wolfsburg is the first in a series of meetings with workers from various factories, during which Blume will have to answer the staff questions.
According to German television ZDF, today's meeting was still marked by workers' protests against savings plans.