Volkswagen’s CEO warns company’s situation ‘more than critical’
Volkswagen’s CEO warned Sunday the corporate was in a “greater than vital” state forward of conferences with the automotive big’s workers the place he’ll defend the corporate’s financial savings plans.
In an interview posted on the corporate’s intranet and despatched to AFP, Oliver Blume mentioned Volkswagen and the remainder of Germany’s automotive trade are dealing with “the largest upheaval of their historical past” from world headwinds and Chinese language competitors.
The carmaker is weighing up large job cuts and in coming days Blume will meet with staff at Volkswagen’s HQ in Wolfsburg and websites in Zwickau and Emden to offer updates on the corporate’s plans.
Blume mentioned within the interview that no choice had been taken on plant closures however reiterated the corporate’s place that for crops in “Emden, Hannover, Zwickau and Neckarsulm we can’t at the moment see any means of them remaining worthwhile within the 2030s”.
He mentioned that the corporate additionally needed to cope with over-production of 500,000 automobiles per yr in Europe.
Closing factories would all the time be “the final and costliest resolution”, Blume mentioned.
He added that at websites the place automotive manufacturing could cease, Volkswagen was exploring different “industrial options”, pointing to superior talks with corporations from the defence trade over utilizing its manufacturing unit in Osnabrueck.
In July, Blume introduced saving plans to Volkswagen’s supervisory board however no choice was taken.
German media reported on the time that the Decrease Saxony state authorities — which is a significant shareholder within the Volkswagen Group and holds 20 p.c of the voting rights — refused to log off on the plans.
The group has already ordered 50,000 job cuts and Blume mentioned that agreements have already been reached with 37,000 staff.
Blume appealed to staff to drag collectively for the sake of the auto big.
“We’ll solely achieve success if everybody within the firm helps this plan,” he mentioned.
The pinnacle of the IG Metall union on Friday sharply criticised administration and promised to withstand manufacturing unit closures.
Volkswagen’s “employees have already to simply accept hefty and painful cuts and now are getting one other slap within the face,” Christiane Benner advised the Wirtschaftswoche weekly.
