Volkswagen Board Blocks Sweeping Restructuring as Carmaker Unveils 2030 Strategy Instead

Volkswagen's labour representatives on the supervisory board blocked a sweeping restructuring plan at a meeting in Wolfsburg, with the committee voting 12 to seven against management's proposals following opposition from worker and Lower Saxony representatives. The reported plan had envisaged closing four German factories and cutting up to 100,000 jobs worldwide, more than 15% of the workforce, and drew coordinated protests organised by the IG Metall union at around 20 group sites across Germany. Volkswagen made no mention of job cuts or plant closures after the meeting. Instead it unveiled a strategy through to 2030 that did not require board approval, saying it will gradually halve the number of models it offers and cut vehicle variants by as much as 75% to reduce cost and complexity, while lowering annual production capacity to around nine million vehicles, down from about ten million today and roughly twelve million before the pandemic. The pressure reflects deteriorating results: net profit fell 28% to €1.56 billion on revenue down 2.5% to €75.7 billion in the quarter to March, and second-quarter global deliveries dropped 8.6% year on year amid Chinese competition and US import tariffs.