Volkswagen shares in green: VW wants to significantly reduce administrative costs | 11/13/23

According to a press report, the planned savings program at the Volkswagen automaker includes significant job cuts in management.

In an internal podcast with Group Human Resources Director Gunnar Kilian, Thomas Schäfer, head of the Volkswagen brand, spoke about the goal of saving employee costs in the so-called indirect area of ​​five, Handelsblatt reported (Monday). The Wolfsburg-based management team includes around 40,000 employees of the brand and the group. Kilian stressed that the company is interested in costs, not people. The company spokeswoman did not want to comment further on the information in detail.

All costs and subject areas will be critically examined in the coveted Volkswagen brand programme, the spokeswoman said. The company will continue to exploit opportunities “along the demographic curve” – that is, tools such as voluntary partial retirement. “There is no overall goal to reduce headcount at Volkswagen,” she said. Employee representatives also did not want to comment on the “speculation.” A Labor Council spokesman said: “The Labor Council does not comment on confidential negotiations in terms of content or regarding the additional timetable.” “We cannot make cuts in collective bargaining or compromises in our job security.”

Thomas Schäfer, Volkswagen’s brand chief, wants to improve the results of the Wolfsburg-based company’s chronically low-returning core brand through a savings programme. By the end of 2026, a total of ten billion euros must be raised so that Volkswagen Passenger Cars can achieve its target return on sales of 6.5 percent – most recently 3.4 percent in the first nine months of 2023. Schäfer has already indicated that, from Among other things, there should be savings through joint production between brands in the so-called “core” brand group. In addition to Volkswagen cars, this also includes Seat/Cupra, Skoda and Volkswagen Light Commercial Vehicles (VWN).

Details about the savings program are not yet available. According to Handelsblatt, negotiations with employee representatives are likely to continue until next year. However, all necessary measures have already been taken for 2024, but the procedures for the following years still need to be finalized.

By XETRA, Volkswagen shares temporarily rose 0.77 percent to 104.46 euros.

/men/people/mis

Wolfsburg (dpa-AFX)