Volkswagen urged to build China models in Germany to protect jobs

Volkswagen’s Lower Saxony shareholder wants the carmaker to build China-developed models in Germany to keep factories running and jobs at home as the company weighs closing four domestic plants and cutting as many as 100,000 jobs. Olaf Lies, the state premier and a Volkswagen supervisory board member, said the move could stabilize plant utilization and preserve industrial capacity.

Lower Saxony holds 20.0% of Volkswagen’s voting rights, behind Porsche Automobil Holding SE’s 53.3%, while Qatar Holding LLC has 17.0% and 9.7% sits in free float as of December 31, 2025. Volkswagen’s 2025 production figures put Germany at 20.2% of total vehicle production, or 1,789,409 vehicles.

On April 30, Oliver Blume said Volkswagen could build China-specific models in Europe for local markets or share European factories with Chinese partners. In the first quarter of 2026, Volkswagen’s operating profit fell 14% to 2.5 billion euros and revenue dropped 2.5% to 75.7 billion euros, while U.S. import tariffs were expected to cost about 4 billion euros this year.

On June 26, Volkswagen was considering closing four German sites, in Hanover, Zwickau, Emden and Audi’s Neckarsulm plant, while cutting as many as 100,000 jobs across the group. Volkswagen’s workforce stood at about 657,400 at the end of the first quarter. A late-2024 union deal had already set a path to around 50,000 job losses in Germany by 2030 and ruled out compulsory redundancies until the end of that year.

IG Metall said it did not reject the idea of Chinese automakers using under-used Volkswagen plants, but that any case had to be carefully evaluated and fit Volkswagen’s own industrial strategy. Volkswagen’s General Works Council and IG Metall have also vowed to resist the cuts and closures with all their might. Lower Saxony economy minister Dirk Panter has pointed to Volkswagen’s Zwickau plant as a possible site for Chinese collaboration.