(Bloomberg) —
Volkswagen AG Chief Executive Officer Herbert Diess warned the carmaker may need to cut output at its main factory in Wolfsburg amid rising tensions over how to make the world’s biggest car plant fit for the electric age.
While VW has made headway managing the global chip crisis, the situation at its German headquarters remains challenging, Diess said Wednesday during a workers assembly.
“Wolfsburg is particularly hard hit by the semiconductor situation,” the CEO said according to a prepared speech text. “Capacity adjustments are therefore necessary, also in the medium term.”
Talks over how to keep Wolfsburg competitive in the shift to battery-powered cars has seen tensions rise between Diess and union leaders. The CEO in November hinted at possible job cuts to keep pace with Tesla Inc. as the electric car leader plans to ramp up output at its first European factory near Berlin this year.
VW should should place a planned new electric-vehicle plant — which is supposed to produce about 250,000 EVs annually — at the main Wolfsburg site or at least very close to it to help protect jobs, labor leader head Daniela Cavallo said at the same event. She also called for compensating workers for the planned cuts of nearly all night shifts, which are expected to reduce the pay of some 5,000 workers.
VW’s Wolfsburg plant lost output of some 330,000 vehicles last year because of the chip crisis, in part because the group favored production of higher-priced models at other locations.
“Those were your choices, that’s your responsibility,” Cavallo said in comments addressed to top management. “That’s why you owe your colleagues compensation.”
(Corrects day to Wednesday in second paragraph.)
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
