A VW Golf GTI stands in a car parking zone within reach of the model tower on the grounds of the VW plant in Wolfsburg.
Image Alliance | Image Alliance | Getty Photographs
German carmaker Volkswagen on Monday warned it is going to not be capable to rule out plant closures within the nation, citing the specter of main cost-cutting measures with the intention to “future-proof” the corporate.
“The European automotive trade is in a really demanding and severe state of affairs,” Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume mentioned in an announcement.
“The financial surroundings grew to become even more durable, and new opponents are coming into the European market. As well as, Germany particularly as a producing location is falling additional behind by way of competitiveness.”
Because of this, Volkswagen Group’s chief government mentioned the corporate “should now act decisively.”
Shares of Volkswagen traded 2.4% increased on Monday afternoon.
Volkswagen mentioned that manufacturers inside the firm would wish to bear a “complete restructuring,” earlier than including that the present state of affairs signifies that even plant closures at automobile manufacturing and part websites can not be dominated out.
The carmaker mentioned it felt compelled to carry an finish to its employment safety settlement — a job safety program that has been in place since 1994 — with the intention to safe “urgently wanted structural changes for higher competitiveness within the quick time period.”
“The state of affairs is extraordinarily tense and can’t be resolved by means of easy cost-cutting measures,” VW model CEO Thomas Schäfer mentioned within the assertion.
“That is why we need to provoke discussions with worker representatives as quickly as attainable to discover the probabilities for sustainably restructuring the model,” he added.
Volkswagen mentioned all mandatory measures can be mentioned with the Basic Works Council and German commerce union IG Metall.