Volkswagen Supervisory Board Approves Major Cost-Cutting Plan; IG Metall Vows Protests

VW must save: Supervisory Board announced halving of model range and is consulting on plant closures and job cuts. IG Metall announced protests.

July 10, 2026 | 7:53 AM

What happens next? The uncertainty among employees is great. Photo: Jan Woitas/dpa

dpa — The VW Group is significantly trimming its model range. The number of models in the group is to be gradually reduced by up to 50 percent, and the number of possible equipment options is to fall by up to 75 percent, the group announced after a supervisory board meeting in Wolfsburg.

The group wants to focus on the most attractive market segments, Europe's largest carmaker explained the move. This would focus investments and development resources on products and technologies that deliver the greatest added value for customers and the highest value contribution for the group, it said. Global production capacity is to fall from 12 to 9 million vehicles, confirmed CEO Oliver Blume.

The group did not provide any information on possible job cuts and plant closures, which media had previously reported on. The VW Supervisory Board had met in the afternoon to deliberate on new savings plans for the group. No decisions were made on this.

Protests at All Locations

There were protests against the savings plans at more than a dozen locations. In Wolfsburg, around 500 people gathered for a rally. With trumpets and sirens, they marched to the executive board high-rise building. The supervisory board then met there. Very different ideas also clash in this control body.

Four Plants Are Said to Be Threatened with Closure

CEO Oliver Blume had already announced in the spring that he was working on a new "Target Image 2030" for the group and also wanted to significantly tighten the austerity course. According to Manager Magazin, up to 100,000 jobs could be cut worldwide, twice as many as previously planned.

Four plants of the VW Group in Germany are reportedly threatened with closure: Hanover, Emden, Zwickau and Neckarsulm. According to Spiegel, vehicle production there could end by the end of 2034:

• From 2031 first in Zwickau and Emden
• 2032 at VW Commercial Vehicles in Hanover
• 2034 at Audi in Neckarsulm

Before the supervisory board meeting, a spokesperson said: "The exact content of the future plan and the necessary measures associated with it will be discussed today between the Supervisory Board and the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG." This includes, among other things, reducing complexity, streamlining participation, aligning development and production more regionally: "And yes, we will also have to reduce overcapacity."

IG Metall Wants to Resist

IG Metall wants to resist the "brutal plans of the top management," as it announced. "Across the country, colleagues have made it clear today: Not like this!" said union leader Christiane Brenner. "They have worked hard, they have made concessions. Instead of taking this performance as a model, the board is confronting employees with new reduction plans. The anger and uncertainty that this creates is understandably great."

She considers it "absolutely irresponsible how people's futures are being played with at the moment, how fear is being stoked," Benner said at the rally in Wolfsburg. "That four plants in Germany are to be closed, we as IG Metall must not go along with that. We will not accept that."

Works Council Chairwoman Daniela Cavallo called on the board: "Stop this uncertainty. We need clarity for the workforce. We need a comprehensive plan." And that does not include the possibility that restructuring is only possible with job cuts and site closures.

Today the protest was still relatively small. According to IG Metall, however, all actions are not industrial action, but information or protest events. However, the union announced that it would "increase the pressure in the second half of the year if necessary, should the board stick to its plans." VW risks "a