Since Monday morning, representatives of the Volkswagen Group and IG Metall have been negotiating the controversial savings plan for Europe’s largest car manufacturer in a conference hotel in the northeast of Hanover. They have already sat together for around 50 hours, and on the night from Wednesday to Thursday alone, they wrestled until four in the morning, according to those involved. Participants claim to have seen Arne Meiswinkel, the company’s chief negotiator, on site at five or half past five. Already during the night there were reports that both sides were moving towards each other and that an agreement was likely that would not involve any factory closures. On Thursday morning it was said: Negotiations are continuing and everything is still open. According to negotiating circles, there is currently still a struggle over the occupancy of individual locations. Any agreement, if it is reached, should be presented to the Group Executive Board and possibly also the Supervisory Board in the afternoon. If at all, the results will only be published after the stock market closes, according to company circles. Production of the combustion engine model Golf in focusAccording to information from the F.A.Z. The focus is primarily on future work in Wolfsburg and Zwickau, with cuts that primarily affect the location in the east. The starting point is the production of the combustion engine model Golf at the headquarters in Wolfsburg, which, according to a scenario, would be relocated to Puebla in Mexico from 2027. Production at the plant on the Mittelland Canal would then, at least temporarily, no longer be carried out on four lines, but only on two lines and in six shifts instead of the current eight. Part of the underutilization would be compensated for by models such as the compact electric cars ID.3 and Cupra Born, which are currently in production Zwickau roll off the assembly line. In addition, the electric Golf, which is announced for around 2028 or 2029, and another model on the same technical platform are likely to be installed in Wolfsburg. A closure of the entire Zwickau location would be averted in this scenario, but capacity would be greatly reduced. In addition to the compact cars, an Audi model is currently rolling off the production line at the Saxon factory, as well as the electric city SUV ID.4 and its offshoot ID.5. The relocation of the ID.4 to Emden is said to have been decided on for some time.More on the topicHow the F.A.Z. had reported, the locations in Saxony have long feared that they will be burdened above average in the struggle for future capacity utilization. There is talk of “dismantling” among the workforce. VW did not want to comment on the scenarios on Thursday. There is a “high motivation” to resolve the conflict before Christmas, a senior manager told the F.A.Z. But it is just as important “that a sensible conclusion comes out of it”. VW had already decided on major savings programs in previous years, for example after the diesel scandal. According to the board’s assessment, the staff cuts and the corresponding savings were only partially implemented. IG Metall says that a lot of progress has been made in some areas of the negotiations, but that the negotiating partners are still at odds in other aspects. Accordingly, a longer interruption or a termination of the fifth round of negotiations were still among the possible scenarios. A works council spokesman said that reports of solutions supposedly achieved were speculation until an overall result was actually determined.
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