Wolfsburg: growing concerns of Volkswagen employees regarding worrying economic outlooks

Wolfsburg, a small German town where one might believe that the future is as bright as the new bodies of Volkswagen cars, is today the stage for a dark play with humor as sour as a poorly served lukewarm beer. Imagine a tentacled giant, Volkswagen and its armies of prestigious brands like Audi, Porsche, SEAT, Škoda, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Ducati, MAN, and Scania, being told that its cheerful household will reduce its workforce by 35,000 souls by 2030. Obviously, this news comes at a bad time as the American administration, always ready to hand out poisoned gifts, imposes a 25% tariff on imported cars. This means that the million cars Volkswagen sells each year across the Atlantic turn into lead weights. In this electrifying yet uncertain atmosphere, the staff in Wolfsburg continue to tighten their screws, but with the faces of those who see the shadow of a layoff brushing against their dreams of the future.

The employees' concerns in the shadow of economic clouds over Wolfsburg

Nothing screams "crisis" like a gigantic factory stretching over 650 football fields, where every step echoes with worries. In 2025, Volkswagen, this empire forged since the 1930s, is at a turning point worthy of an industrial thriller. Sales are woefully stagnating in the German domestic market, holding wilted roses in hand. It's not better on the Chinese side, perpetually characterized as the rising sun of the global automobile industry, where demand now shows a serious slowdown.

The employees, for their part, don't need the latest financial report to feel the storm brewing. "Volkswagen is our DNA," is often heard. Yet, this identity is sagging, especially when a retiree proudly showing on his phone a picture mixing his hometown in Calabria with the Wolfsburg factory confides his anxiety for his engineer sons, one in Wolfsburg and the other in China. The international upheavals are not mere ephemeral clouds: with Trump and his legendary unpredictability, the sky is quite overcast.

An American crisis crashing the German party

The perfect molotov cocktail? Trump deciding that European cars are now worth a quarter more in the American market. For Volkswagen, this is a sharp pain. One million vehicles sold in the United States suddenly burdened with 25% taxes; it hits the wallet and undermines US plans. Negotiations to alleviate this thorn in the side continue, especially for brands like Audi to produce more in the United States, hoping to break the punitive spiral.

At Café Pinocchio, a regular Sicilian member of the IG Metall union doesn’t pull punches. For him, there’s no doubt that these tariffs are a “total disaster.” And rightly so: having slept through last fall’s enormous crisis, this new threat reignites a bad omen series from which no happy ending is expected.

Volkswagen and its shaken empire: premium brands at the wall

When talking about Volkswagen, one often thinks of utility, but let’s not forget that the group owns a royal fleet—from Porsche to Lamborghini, from Bugatti to Ducati—jewels that shine both for their exclusivity and their performance. Even the heavyweights of the truck industry like MAN and Scania feel the winds changing. Job cuts and factory closures are not just mere figures on a report; they represent families, passions, and above all, lives hanging by a thread.

And in the meantime, workers at cafes in Wolfsburg, sometimes nostalgic, sometimes angry, scan the horizon with a certainty mixed with defiance and fear. Because while the German automotive industry still vibrates, the melody is heavier, somewhat dissonant, like a symphony where the conductor is about to lose the baton.

Source: www.rfi.fr

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