{"id":659036,"date":"2026-08-27T10:10:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T10:10:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/659036\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T10:10:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T10:10:14","slug":"volkswagen-chief-warns-company-facing-critical-fight-for-survival-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/659036\/","title":{"rendered":"Volkswagen chief warns company facing \u2018critical\u2019 fight for survival \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Volkswagen (VW)<\/a> group chief executive Oliver Blume has said his firm\u2019s \u201ccritical\u201d struggle for survival mirrors a wider battle to secure an \u201cindustrial perspective\u201d for Germany<\/a> as a whole.<\/p>\n

Blume was speaking during whistle-stop visits of two VW plants facing closure as part of radical reforms at the German car giant to cut costs and 50,000 jobs, simplify production and future-proof the company against rising Chinese competition<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe situation is more than critical,\u201d Blume told assembled workers. \u201cWe are outsized, often that makes us too slow and too complicated.\u201d<\/p>\n

He told wary employees in Emden, near the Dutch border, that VW production costs were up to 20 per cent higher than with competitors and that at least four plants had no guaranteed future beyond the end of the decade.<\/p>\n

Two plants \u2013 in Emden, and Zwickau in eastern Germany \u2013 are almost certain to close, according to VW sources, with additional plant closures likely at its Audi<\/a> subsidiary.<\/p>\n

Blume described closures as \u201calways the last and most expensive solution\u201d, but his ongoing lack of detail \u2013 and the resulting rumour mill \u2013 has been attacked by German unions and politicians.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur trust in this board, in particular the strategy of chief executive Oliver Blume, is damaged,\u201d said Daniela Cavallo, head of the powerful VW works council and a member of the supervisory board. \u201cNot irreparable damage, but damaged all the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

Metalworker union IG Metall accused Blume of \u201cspeaking a lot but saying little\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t build a future in withdrawing by degrees,\u201d said Torsten Gr\u00f6er, regional IG Metall head in VW\u2019s hometown of Wolfsburg.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Crisis-stricken Volkswagen is emblematic of Germany\u2019s ailing economyOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

VW workers agreed that expectations of the first day of Blume\u2019s roadshow \u2013 he visits other group plants before the end of the month \u2013 had not been met.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt didn\u2019t convince me that much,\u201d said Oliver Jakobs, a mechatronic engineer. \u201cThere is too much smashed porcelain now.\u201d<\/p>\n

His colleague Jascha Luttmann said it was \u201cnot a good strategy to simply want to be the cheapest like in eastern Europe, that won\u2019t work\u201d.<\/p>\n

Blume not only failed to provide any concrete detail on the future car production, he also played down claims that some VW plants could pivot from civilian vehicles to arms production. Instead of news on this front, he promised to cut every fourth management job to land at about 16,000 positions.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll areas have to make their contribution,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Blume has flagged the need to cut about 50,000 jobs in total as part of a VW 2030 survival plan.<\/p>\n

The VW gloom was offset on Wednesday with news that German export sentiment had reached its highest level in more than four years. The monthly survey of German exporters\u2019 future expectations rose to 9.6 points in August from \u22122.8 points in \u200bJuly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Volkswagen (VW) group chief executive Oliver Blume has said his firm\u2019s \u201ccritical\u201d struggle for survival mirrors a wider…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":659037,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[73],"tags":[75733,79,381,18,6621,19,17,44702,80],"class_list":["post-659036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-audi","tag-business","tag-china","tag-eire","tag-germany","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-volkswagen-vw","tag-work"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=659036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/659037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=659036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=659036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=659036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}