Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume said change was necessary because the European market is shrinking and competition is increasing. The head of the German auto giant is pushing for the company to close its plants in Germany for the first time.
“The cake is smaller, and we have more guests at the table,” Bloom said in an interview.
“The number of cars sold in Europe has declined. At the same time, new competitors from Asia are putting strong pressure on the market,” he added.
Volkswagen said a few days ago that it was considering for the first time a decision to close its factories in Germany and end job guarantees at six of its factories, in an effort to proceed with a 10 billion euro ($11 billion) cost-cutting plan.
Volkswagen’s management defended its cost-cutting plans on Wednesday, while employees gathered at a staff meeting to protest against possible factory closures, a matter that has drawn government attention.
Some 25,000 employees gathered at the company’s headquarters in the northern city of Wolfsburg, according to the works council.
“We still have a year, maybe two, to turn things around,” said Volkswagen Group CFO Arno Antlitz. “But we have to use this time.”
Germany’s largest labor union has pledged to study all possible options, including moving to a four-day work week, after Volkswagen said it was considering closing factories in the country for the first time in its history and ending its decades-old job security program.
Asked whether a four-day work week was among the alternatives being considered by a German trade union, Christiane Benner, president of the AJ Metall union, said: “It is possible.” “We will not leave any idea unexamined,” she added.
The auto giant faces challenges including slowing demand for cars, especially electric vehicles, growing competition from China, and a complex governance structure that some investors and analysts say slows decision-making in times of crisis.
Negotiations are scheduled to begin in mid-October and continue until late October, with the possibility of declaring strikes starting at the end of November.
