Latest news with #DanielaCavallo
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Nearly 20,000 Volkswagen workers take voluntary redundancy while others could work a 4-day week amid overhaul
Around 20,000 Volkswagen workers in Germany have so far agreed to take voluntary redundancy as part of a major overhaul aimed at cutting costs, the struggling auto titan said Tuesday. Europe's biggest carmaker, hit by fierce competition in its key market of China and a stuttering shift to electric vehicles, struck a deal with unions last year for massive job cuts in its home market. Some 20,000 workers had so far accepted redundancy offers, out of a total of 35,000 due to be shed by 2030 under the agreement, the 10-brand group said. The total figure represents a quarter of the Volkswagen brand's workforce. The jobs are being cut at the carmaker's core Volkswagen brand, and amount to about 30 percent of its workforce in Germany. Volkswagen plans to slash capacity by over 700,000 units, while its other brands, including Audi and Porsche, have also been trimming costs by cutting thousands of jobs. The redundancies and retirements, as opposed to layoffs, to meet Volkswagen's headcount reduction target are due to strong German labor laws that make it harder to dismiss employees en masse. 'We are on track,' VW board board member Gunnar Kilian said at a meeting with staff at the company's historic headquarters in Wolfsburg, western Germany. He said the 'socially responsible' job cuts as well as reductions in factory costs added up to 'measurable progress.' Volkswagen dropped a bombshell last year when it said it was mulling closing factories in Germany for the first time in its history. But after months of talks with unions and a series of walkouts, it decided against shuttering any plants, instead striking the agreement to cut jobs through voluntary redundancies. The Volkswagen brand has grappled with overinvestment and low returns on its electric vehicles, prompting a slew of changes. While the German auto giant navigates an overhaul within the company, it might also have staff working fewer days from 2027 onwards. As part of restructuring efforts, Wolfsburg, Volkswagen's biggest plant, could turn to a four-day workweek as it focuses only on EV production, works council head Daniela Cavallo said on Tuesday, according to Reuters. 'We have to make provisions now so that we can draw on them later … From 2027 onwards, a temporary four-day week is not an unreasonable scenario,' Cavallo told workers. This story was originally featured on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Motor 1
6 days ago
- Automotive
- Motor 1
The Once-Dominant Volkswagen Golf Is Quietly Fading
Since the first Golf rolled off the assembly line in late March 1974, Volkswagen has built more than 37 million units. It's by far the company's most popular car ever, comfortably surpassing the Beetle (21.5 million) and the Polo (20 million). But the once-dominant Golf may be past its prime. Production has dropped sharply in recent years, according to a presentation by the works council at the Wolfsburg site. Reuters saw the internal document and reports that VW built more than one million Golf hatchbacks and wagons globally in 2015, but only a little over 300,000 units last year. For 2025, the German automaker projects it will assemble just 250,000 vehicles. In just a decade, output has plummeted by 75%. Works council chief Daniela Cavallo told the news agency it's only going to get worse: 'The trend is an unstoppable decline.' Photo by: Volkswagen Why is the Golf struggling? A few reasons come to mind. Early software issues with the eighth-generation model likely hurt demand. VW has also faced criticism for a noticeable drop in interior quality compared to its excellent Mk7 predecessor. The removal of most physical controls probably didn't help, either. People are also not fans of the touch slider below the screen, and having capacitive touch buttons on high-end versions of the pre-facelift model might've also alienated buyers. But let's not forget we're living in the SUV age. The T-Roc, essentially a Golf crossover, is nearly as popular as its hatchback counterpart in Europe. Sales figures from Dataforce show VW sold 216,549 Golfs in Europe last year, just 13,000 more than T-Rocs. To some extent, the crossover may be cannibalizing sales of the hatchback and wagon. Oh, and there's also a T-Roc Convertible, which proved to be more popular than the Miata last year in Europe. VW plans to move production of the combustion-engine Golf from Wolfsburg to Puebla, Mexico, starting in 2027. When that happens, Cavallo isn't ruling out switching to a four-day work week at the German plant, where the Tiguan is built alongside the aging Touran minivan. The Golf will return to Wolfsburg eventually, with the ninth-generation, electric-only model on a dedicated platform, arriving by the end of the decade. An electric T-Roc will also be made there. Meanwhile, cost-cutting is in full swing. VW aims to eliminate 35,000 jobs in Germany by the end of the decade. More than 20,000 workers have already contractually agreed to leave within the next five years, Reuters reports. Between now and 2030, the company plans to reduce annual output in Germany by 700,000 vehicles, a significant portion of which will come from relocating Golf production to Mexico. It's worth noting that the Golf isn't built exclusively in Wolfsburg. VW also manufactures the car in Malaysia and China. While an electric version is on the horizon, the current internal combustion model could continue until 2035 , according to VW's Head of Technical Development, Kai Grünitz. Spicy Golfs: Bugatti's Boss Owns and Drives a Volkswagen Golf R32 Why Volkswagen Golf GTI and R Sales Are Way Down Get the best news, reviews, columns, and more delivered straight to your inbox, daily. back Sign up For more information, read our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use . Source: Reuters Share this Story Facebook X LinkedIn Flipboard Reddit WhatsApp E-Mail Got a tip for us? Email: tips@ Join the conversation ( )
Time of India
6 days ago
- Automotive
- Time of India
VW's Wolfsburg plant may move to four-day week from 2027, works council says
Volkswagen's restructuring of its Wolfsburg plant from 2027 to make way for EV-only production could result in a temporary four-day working week at the plant, works council chief Daniela Cavallo told workers on Tuesday. Cavallo, a central figure in negotiations with management last year over cost cuts, said unions had agreed minimum capacity utilisation for the transition period, but urged workers to take extra shifts in the run-up to compensate for the likelihood of fewer working hours in years to come. "We have to make provisions now so that we can draw on them later ... From 2027 onwards, a temporary four-day week is not an unreasonable scenario," Cavallo said. Volkswagen's deal struck with unions last December to cut costs in Germany included moving production of the combustion engine Golf from Wolfsburg to Mexico from 2027, prompting concern among some employees at the carmaker's headquarters over the future of the plant. Cavallo sought to assure workers on Tuesday that the plant's future was in safer hands via plans to produce the electric Golf, as well as a successor to its T-Roc compact SUV, by the end of the decade, pointing to the steady decline in demand for the combustion engine version of the iconic VW car. Golf production globally, most of which was concentrated in Wolfsburg, has declined from over a million in 2015 to just over 300,000 in 2024, a graph compiled by the works council and seen by Reuters showed, with just 250,000 cars forecast for this year. "The trend is an unstoppable decline ... the Golf must go to Mexico! Sooner or later. Otherwise, our plant will eventually find itself at the bottom of these statistics I just showed," Cavallo said, according to comments published on the company intranet and seen by Reuters.
Al Etihad
7 days ago
- Automotive
- Al Etihad
VW's Wolfsburg plant may move to four-day week from 2027, Works Council says
3 June 2025 23:36 BERLIN (Reuters) Volkswagen's restructuring of its Wolfsburg plant from 2027 to make way for EV-only production could result in a temporary four-day working week at the plant, Daniela Cavallo, VW's Works Council Chief told workers on a central figure in negotiations with management last year over cost cuts, said unions had agreed on minimum capacity utilisation for the transition period, but urged workers to take extra shifts in the run-up to compensate for the likelihood of fewer working hours in years to come."We have to make provisions now so that we can draw on them later ... From 2027 onwards, a temporary four-day week is not an unreasonable scenario," Cavallo deal struck with unions last December to cut costs in Germany included moving production of the combustion engine Golf from Wolfsburg to Mexico in 2027, prompting concern among some employees at the carmaker's headquarters over the future of the sought to assure workers on Tuesday that the plant's future was in safer hands via plans to produce the electric Golf, as well as a successor to its T-Roc compact SUV, by the end of the decade, pointing to the steady decline in demand for the combustion engine version of the iconic VW production globally, most of which was concentrated in Wolfsburg, has declined from over a million in 2015 to just over 300,000 in 2024, a graph compiled by the Works Council and seen by Reuters showed, with just 250,000 cars forecast for this year.
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
VW's Wolfsburg plant may move to four-day week from 2027, works council says
Reuters Tue, Jun 3, 2025, 6:40 AM 2 min read In This Article: VWAPY -0.84% (Corrects paragraph 6 to show that statistics refer to Golf production globally, not only in Wolfsburg) BERLIN (Reuters) - Volkswagen's restructuring of its Wolfsburg plant from 2027 to make way for EV-only production could result in a temporary four-day working week at the plant, works council chief Daniela Cavallo told workers on Tuesday. Cavallo, a central figure in negotiations with management last year over cost cuts, said unions had agreed minimum capacity utilisation for the transition period, but urged workers to take extra shifts in the run-up to compensate for the likelihood of fewer working hours in years to come. "We have to make provisions now so that we can draw on them later ... From 2027 onwards, a temporary four-day week is not an unreasonable scenario," Cavallo said. Volkswagen's deal struck with unions last December to cut costs in Germany included moving production of the combustion engine Golf from Wolfsburg to Mexico from 2027, prompting concern among some employees at the carmaker's headquarters over the future of the plant. Cavallo sought to assure workers on Tuesday that the plant's future was in safer hands via plans to produce the electric Golf, as well as a successor to its T-Roc compact SUV, by the end of the decade, pointing to the steady decline in demand for the combustion engine version of the iconic VW car. Golf production globally, most of which was concentrated in Wolfsburg, has declined from over a million in 2015 to just over 300,000 in 2024, a graph compiled by the works council and seen by Reuters showed, with just 250,000 cars forecast for this year. "The trend is an unstoppable decline ... the Golf must go to Mexico! Sooner or later. Otherwise, our plant will eventually find itself at the bottom of these statistics I just showed," Cavallo said, according to comments published on the company intranet and seen by Reuters. (Reporting by Victoria Waldersee, Editing by Friederike Heine, Ludwig Burger and David Evans) View Comments Terms and Privacy Policy Your Privacy Choices Recommended Stories
