AUTONEWS

VW's ordeal: It has been decided to cut 35,000 jobs in Germany and relocate Golf production to Mexico

The Volkswagen Group and the powerful German industrial union IG Metall have buried the hatchet regarding the cuts that the manufacturer needs to make in order to remain viable. But the suffering of the workers is far from over, since 35,000 jobs will be laid off by 2030. This is in Germany alone, where the manufacturer employs 296,134 people, with the group having 678,825 employees worldwide.

In addition to the number of employees being cut, production will also be cut by 734,000 vehicles, according to CEO Oliver Blume, in order to adapt supply to demand. This means that the 9.24 million units sold in 2023 should fall to 8.5 million, with Volkswagen — the group's driving force, with 4.9 million vehicles sold last year — expected to make the biggest sacrifices.

Called “Volkswagen Future” (Zukunft Volkswagen), the agreement aims to save 1.5 billion euros annually in labor costs alone, which, combined with the closure of factories and the reduction in production, will allow the manufacturer to reduce expenses by around 15 billion euros/year in the medium term. According to management, the strategy involves “guaranteeing the remaining jobs and financial stability, as well as achieving technological leadership in sustainable mobility”, in addition to ensuring the capacity to make the generous investments needed to launch new models by 2030.

In addition to closing factories and making layoffs, the German conglomerate will overhaul its production system. The most notable measure will be the relocation, in 2027, of the production of the Golf and Golf Variant from Wolfsburg, Germany, to Mexico. The production line, which dates back to 1967, was designed for the original Beetle, which was manufactured there until 2003. Since then, the following two generations of the Beetle have been assembled there, and today the Tiguan Allspace, Jetta and Taos have rolled off this production line.

While the Golf with combustion engines will move to the land of tequila and guacamole, the next generation of the popular model, which will be purely electric, will be designed on the group's new platform (SSP) and manufactured in Germany from 2029, in Wolfsburg. The ID.3 and Cupra Born will also be produced here, while the Emden plant will continue to produce the ID.4 and ID.7, with Zwickau responsible for the Audi Q4 e-tron, e-tron Sportback and Cupra Tavascan. The production line in Hanover, which specialises in commercial vehicles, will continue to produce the VW Multivan and ID.Buzz.

With no future in the “Future of Volkswagen” is the Osnabrück plant, which is due to close when the production of the T-Roc Cabriolet ends in 2027, as well as the most beautiful factory of the group (and of the automotive industry) in Dresden, known as the “glass factory” because it is covered in this material and where the cylindrical storage silo for vehicles is located, covered, of course, in glass. It is a low-production line that does not actually manufacture, but only assembles vehicles, as it has no sheet metal forming stations or engine or gearbox manufacturing, operating with parts from Wolfsburg. 

It was born as an iconic building, in the centre of a huge garden within the city of Dresden, exclusively to produce the Volkswagen Phaeton, having since dedicated itself to the e-Golf and, more recently, the ID.3. Given the grandeur of the facilities, individual deliveries were also organised there.

The glass factory is expected to be sold or transferred to third parties, with the certainty that the city authorities would easily set up a museum or conference centre there. The future of six factories producing components to supply the vehicle factories is also difficult to predict, as they will remain in operation, but with fewer working hours and fewer workers.

Mundoquatrorodas