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According to media reports, Jeffery analysts said Volkswagen could force a decision to close the plant this year, paving the way for more than 15000 jobs to be cut. The analyst quoted Volkswagen executives as saying that the company could close production facilities without the approval of the supervisory board, potentially setting aside as much as 4 billion euros (about 31.462 billion yuan) in the fourth quarter.

As of press time, Volkswagen has not yet responded to the news, and whether the news is true still needs to be officially confirmed.

It is worth mentioning that earlier this month, according to several media reports, Volkswagen Group issued a statement saying that it was considering closing its German plant, including a larger car factory and a parts factory, in order to cut expenses. Volkswagen Group's main passenger car brands are involved. It was reported at the time that if the plant was eventually closed, it would be the first time Volkswagen has closed a factory in Germany since its founding in 87 years, and involved abandoning its commitment not to lay off staff by 2029. Oliver Blume, chief executive of Volkswagen, said: "the European car industry is facing a" very serious and serious situation ". He pointed out that the economic environment had deteriorated and spoke frankly about the competitive pressure on Volkswagen in the European market." In particular, Germany, as a manufacturing base, is lagging behind in terms of competitiveness. In this environment, Volkswagen Group, as an automobile company, must act decisively. "

Then, on Sept. 10, et, Volkswagen announced that it would terminate a series of job-guarantee agreements with unions, which were supposed to protect jobs until 2029 and will now end early in the middle of next year. In response, Volkswagen CEO Obermu said in a statement that in the face of fierce competition from European competitors and Chinese automakers, all Volkswagen brands need to be fully restructured to control factory, labor, product and material costs. Gunnar Kilian, head of human resources at Volkswagen, said in a statement that the series of measures were aimed at "reducing costs in Germany to a competitive level" in order to use the saved resources to invest in new technologies and products.

Industry insiders believe that Volkswagen's decision may be related to its current performance in the car market, and traditional car companies, including Volkswagen Group, are generally under great pressure along with changes in the global car market.

As the largest car company in Europe, it is also one of the first foreign car companies to enter the Chinese automobile market. The current development of Volkswagen is not satisfactory. According to the financial report, Volkswagen Group's revenue in the first half of 2024 was 158.8 billion euros, up 1.6% from the same period last year; operating profit was 10.05 billion euros, down 11.4% from the same period last year; and operating profit margin was 6.3%. In terms of sales, Volkswagen Group sold 4.3 million vehicles in the first half of the year, down from 4.4 million in the same period. Among them, the Audi brand was 833000, down 8.2% from the same period last year; Porsche was 155900, down 6.8% from the same period last year; and the Volkswagen brand was 2.2203 million, down 0.2% from the same period last year. Volkswagen Group, the world's largest single market, sold 1.345 million vehicles in China, down 7.4% from a year earlier, accounting for 30.9% of Volkswagen Group's total sales.

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