\n August 7, 2026 12:11 PM, EDT<\/p>\n
The VW ID. BUZZ electric van assembly line in Hanover, Germany. (Krisztian Bocsi\/Bloomberg)<\/p>\n
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\nPorsche urged Volkswagen on Aug. 7 to rapidly cut costs and excess capacity, backing management proposals that include eliminating tens of thousands of jobs.The pressure reflects falling competitiveness, underused plants and a reported 30% cost gap, while Volkswagen and Porsche face weaker China sales.Volkswagen is negotiating additional measures including 500,000 fewer annual European production units, management cuts and broad reductions to model variants. <\/p>\n
Volkswagen AG\u2019s majority owner urged Europe\u2019s biggest carmaker to move quickly on cutting costs and excess capacity to tackle a slide in competitiveness.<\/p>\n
Volkswagen should consider \u201cevery option\u201d to usher in a turnaround, Porsche Automobil Holding SE said Aug. 7, its strongest plea yet for swift change at the owner of the Audi and Seat brands. The holding company controlled by the Porsche-Pi\u00ebch owner family added that it fully backs the VW management\u2019s proposals, which include cutting tens of thousands of jobs<\/a>.\n \t \t\t<\/p>\n Volkswagen \u201cis at a historic crossroads,\u201d Porsche SE Management Board Chairman Hans Dieter P\u00f6tsch, who also heads VW\u2019s supervisory board, said in a statement. \u201cThe longer decisions are delayed, the bigger the problems will become.\u201d<\/p>\n The 75-year-old Austrian has weathered a number of setbacks since he joined Volkswagen more than two decades ago. His council to the billionaire owner family and\u00a0deep corporate ties\u00a0have helped the group work through conflicts and crises, including the diesel-cheating scandal.\n \t\t<\/p>\n Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume is trying to make the automaker faster and leaner after years of software delays, bloated costs and declining profitability. But his room to maneuver has narrowed after the supervisory board, where unions hold powerful sway, last month pushed back against plans to shutter four German factories and ax as many as 100,000 jobs.<\/p>\n Blume is instead planning to slash annual production capacity in Europe by another 500,000 units, thin managerial and administrative positions, and make sweeping cuts to model and equipment <\/a>variants. Negotiations on the exact nature of the measures are still ongoing.<\/p>\n Porsche SE, the listed entity that controls the major assets of the Porsche-Pi\u00ebch clan, on Aug. 7 reported a first-half loss after tax of 2.22 billion euros ($2.6 billion).<\/p>\n
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