The debate surrounding Volkswagen’s cost-cutting programs is intensifying. Recently, in presentations to the supervisory board and senior management, Group CEO Oliver Blume identified four German facilities-including VW’s EV sites in Emden and Zwickau, the commercial vehicle plant in Hanover, and Audi’s plant in Neckarsulm-as prohibitively expensive.
However, according to reports, coupling these facilities with the idea of high costs is misleading, suggesting that some of the named plants are actually quite affordable. Insiders suggested that the Volkswagen board might be using the threat of plant closures to exert pressure on the workforce. In fact, according to magazine “Pro Auto”, the VW plants are more cost-effective than those belonging to the subsidiary Porsche. The figures provided by “Der Spiegel” illustrated this gap: estimated factory costs in Zwickau for 2025 were under €4,500, while Emden was negligibly higher, at around €1,000 more. By contrast, Porsche’s Leipzig plant was noted to exceed €6,500, and Audi’s Neckarsulm site was reported at approximately €6,200. Adding to this, the Porsche facility in Zuffenhausen, where the 911 and Taycan are built, allegedly exceeds €13,000.
Sources indicated that the supposed high costs were not the primary issue, but rather a “problem of underutilization”. Internally, Volkswagen is planning to operate only until the first half of the 2030s at these four sites. While VW has job security through 2030, and Audi through 2033, the Group could potentially relocate models currently produced in Germany to cheaper facilities in Southern or Eastern Europe once those employment guarantees expire.
Ultimately, Volkswagen aims to reduce its overall European production capacity by up to 500,000 vehicles annually-an amount equivalent to nearly two full factories. While shutting down a plant is considered the “worst and most expensive option” Blume stated that better alternatives include partnerships with the defense industry or Chinese automakers.
Despite these considerations, Porsche has largely been excluded from this discussion. While Porsche does have legitimate reasons for higher factory costs, such as the extensive customization of the 911 for luxury clientele, resulting in prices far exceeding €100,000, there are other points of discrepancy. Audi and Porsche do not currently produce vehicles together in any German facility, despite some models utilizing the same technical platforms. Furthermore, cost-saving measures previously implemented by VW, such as removing scheduled breaks, have not yet been applied to the premium brands.
