The Management Of Volkswagen Gives Its Staff Plans For The Future

Volkswagen CEO Thomas Schaefer presented plans for the brand’s future at a closed employee meeting. As he announced, nine new models will be introduced by 2027. At the meeting with employees, Schaefer also spoke about the staff reduction plan that was adopted in December.

Volkswagen management and representatives of the IG Metall union reached an agreement in December after marathon negotiations on a package of measures to restructure the struggling group’s operations. There will be no factory closures in Germany, but the company will reduce its workforce by 35,000 by 2030.

These plans to reduce the number of employees were also one of the topics of a meeting at the Wolfsburg factory.

“In addition to the numerous points gained for the workers’ side, the wage compromise also includes painful cuts,” admitted the president of the workers’ union, Daniela Cavallo, before the meeting.

“Satisfaction with the result doesn’t mean we have to be happy,” said Cavallo.

Some Volkswagen Workers Are Still Not Happy

However, not all Volkswagen workers are happy with the deal. In particular, some employees at more profitable plants are unhappy that some of their benefits have been reduced to protect jobs in other parts of the country.

According to the agreement, there will be no planned five percent salary increase in 2025 and 2026, and the workers have also given up on the planned holiday pay.

Under the agreement, production of the Golf and Golf Variant models with internal combustion engines will cease in Wolfsburg by 2027, and production will move to the plant in Puebla, Mexico.

As Schaefer said at the meeting, this will give Wolfsburg space to produce an electric successor to the Golf on the new SSP platform, as well as an electric T-Roc, according to a Volkswagen statement.

“With the outcome of the negotiations in December, we have begun implementing the largest plan for the future in Volkswagen’s history,” Schaefer emphasized.

By 2027, it will simultaneously introduce nine new models.

According to the statement, affordable entry-level mobility in the electric age is one of the central pillars of Volkswagen’s plan for the future. In this light, Schaefer presented a new electric entry-level model to employees that will cost around 20,000 euros.

It will be presented to the general public in early March. The world premiere of the production version is planned for 2027.

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