Volkwagen Considers Trimming Staff Numbers and Plants

The Volkswagen Group may have to axe 30,000 jobs in Germany, according to Autocar UK. That’s roughly 10 per cent of its staff. This would impact its research and development division primarily, says a German trade publication. 

Manager Magazin suggested up to 6000 of its R&D staff may be laid off, just under half of the 13,000 total. 

But that’s not all the Volkswagen Group is considering. After saying it wouldn’t close any of its six factories in Germany, it may now shutter two of them.

It is thought that Dresden and Osnabrück are the factories most at risk. The former is the firm’s Transparent factory, constructed initially to build the Phaeton luxury car. In 2017 it changed over to Golf electric production. At present these facilities build the Volkswagen ID 3 and T-Roc Cabriolet, and the Porsche 718 Boxster and Porsche 718 Cayman.

The Volkswagen Group has said it must rapidly reduce costs in Germany to maintain a competitive level of profitability. It adds that demand for its cars has yet to recover following the Covid pandemic.

VW’s financial chief, Arno Antlitz, told Wolfsburg staff “We are short of around 500,000 car sales a year, the equivalent of around two plants”.

A spokesperson for Volkswagen commented: “Volkswagen has to reduce its costs at its German sites. This is the only way the brand can offer attractively priced vehicles and still make enough money for future investments.

“How we will achieve this goal together with the employee representatives is part of upcoming talks.”