Volkswagen Stakeholders Meet to Decide Future of Company
CEO Oliver Blume is pushing a restructuring that could cut 100,000 jobs worldwide as labor leaders vow to fight the plan.
- On Thursday, July 9, 2026, Volkswagen's supervisory board met in Wolfsburg to evaluate CEO Oliver Blume's sweeping restructuring plan, which proposes closing four German factories and cutting up to 100,000 jobs.
- Faced with rising Chinese competition, U.S. import tariffs, and high domestic operating costs, Volkswagen is under unprecedented pressure to overhaul the business model that underpinned decades of success but now struggles with excess capacity.
- Germany's largest industrial union, IG Metall, staged protests at roughly 20 Volkswagen Group sites ahead of the meeting, opposing potential closures in Hanover, Emden, Zwickau, and Neckarsulm that would affect 15% of the 630,000-strong global workforce.
- The Volkswagen Law requires a two-thirds majority for plant closures, effectively granting labor representatives who hold half the supervisory board seats and Lower Saxony, which holds a 20% stake, substantial veto power over management decisions.
- Management and labor stakeholders anticipate months of negotiations, while Blume has floated alternatives to outright closures, including shifting Chinese-market production to German sites or partnering with defense contractors to utilize spare capacity.
125 Articles
125 Articles
Volkswagen is to cut production, models and up to 100,000 jobs. This triggers protests at the factories.
Volkswagen Will Reduce Its Model Supply by up to 50% and Cut Production by 25% to 9 Million Vehicles
The German car giant will concentrate its efforts on the most attractive market segments. 100,000 jobs are at risk.
The automaker will reduce its model range.
German carmaker Volkswagen announced a drastic reduction in its model range after a supervisory board meeting on Thursday. It did not comment on possible layoffs.
The Volkswagen Group has launched the countdown for the implementation of its future plan. It has done so today at the company’s headquarters in Wolfsburg. The CEO of the German automotive consortium, Oliver Blume, has presented to the Supervisory Board the restrictive measures to recover lost profitability after a period of wrong strategies, the massive arrival of Chinese manufacturers, European and US tariff policies, and the outcome of world …
Up to 120,000 jobs are on the tip at VW. NRW also fears serious consequences for the automotive industry and suppliers.
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