Audi, the luxury car manufacturer owned by Volkswagen Group, will cut 7,500 jobs in Germany by the end of 2029, the company and the works council announced on Monday, following extensive negotiations.
Together with other financial cuts for employees, the move aims to save the carmaker more than €1 billion ($1.09 billion) per year in the medium term.
The company and the works council had wrangled over the savings plan, but have now agreed on a concept. Works council chairman Jörg Schlagbauer said the company originally planned to eliminate 12,000 jobs.
“Audi needs to become faster, more agile, and more efficient. One thing is clear: this won’t be possible without workforce adjustments,” management board chairman Gernot Döllner said.
But Döllner emphasized that “there will be no redundancies for operational reasons until the end of 2033. In difficult economic times, that is good news for all employees.”
The current job security programme, which excludes compulsory redundancies, will be extended until the end of 2033. It previously applied until the end of 2029.
Audi also said it plans to invest €8 billion in its German sites.
“We are positioning Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm to be robust and flexible for the challenging transition to electric mobility,” Döllner said. Ingolstadt is near Munich and Neckarsulm is near Stuttgart.