Volkswagen Group is considering a number of cost-cutting measures for its flagship brand, including a 10 percent wage cut and a two-year bonus freeze, in a bid to save 4 billion euros, Handelsblatt newspaper reported, citing company insiders.
Volkswagen management has discussed several potential cost-saving moves. These include capping bonuses, reducing additional payments for employee anniversaries and exploring the possibility of closing some German manufacturing plants.
A Volkswagen spokesman declined to comment to Handelsblatt on ongoing negotiations with the company’s works council and IG Metall, Germany’s powerful metalworkers’ union.
Since early October, Volkswagen management has been meeting weekly with representatives of workers at its German plants, analyzing where costs can be cut and which models will be produced at each location.