This was reported by MDR Sachsen, among others, citing a company spokesperson. The plans for the job cuts are said to date back to last year. The focus is on those fixed-term employment contracts that expire at the end of next year. Volkswagen had already not extended several hundred fixed-term employment contracts in Zwickau in 2023 and 2024. The VW spokesperson told MDR that the reason for the possible upcoming job cuts was the sluggish demand for electric cars from the VW Group.
For this reason, the two production lines at the Zwickau plant are to be converted to two-shift operation (without night shifts) following the summer holidays. This means that fewer workers will be needed, but the company wants to “remain flexible” in case demand picks up again, the VW spokesperson was quoted as saying by MDR. According to the report, around 9,400 people currently work at the plant. Before the Zwickau factory was converted into a pure e-car production facility, between 6,500 and 7,500 people were employed in Zwickau, according to MDR.
The VW ID.3 and the Cupra Born are produced on production line one at the factory in Saxony. The ID.4 and ID.5 from VW and the Q4 e-tron and Q4 Sportback e-tron from Audi roll off the production line on production line two. There have already been production breaks in recent months, for example in October 2023, when Volkswagen stopped production line one for around two weeks – also due to weak demand. However, production of the two models then resumed in three-shift operation.
In November and December 2023, however, the workforce was hit by more bad news: First, the night shift was cancelled in the production of the VW ID.3 and Cupra Born, after which VW shut down production of the two electric cars completely during the Advent season. At the same time, various media reported that there would be job cuts at the Zwickau electric car plant. The contracts of 269 employees had already expired in 2023. For 2024, MDR and Automobilwoche, among others, assumed in winter that almost 500 employees with fixed-term contracts would no longer be employed.