Executives at Volkswagen are warning of job cuts, as negotiations with the group’s powerful works council heat up while the German carmaker prepares the ground for a €10bn cost-cutting programme.
At a meeting with union representatives on Monday, the head of the Volkswagen brand Thomas Schäfer warned that the flagship business was not making “enough profit with our cars to independently finance the transition [to electric vehicles] and our own future”.
“Our administration is too expensive, our factories are not productive enough and our costs are significantly higher than the competition,” Schäfer said, according to an internal memo seen by the Financial Times.