In an interview published on Sunday, Volkswagen AG CEO Oliver Blume stated that he will make every effort to avoid factory closures while working to reverse the company's operational decline.
The automaker, headquartered in Wolfsburg, Germany, is under pressure to reduce domestic costs and faces increasingly fierce competition in the lucrative Chinese market.
Last week, Volkswagen AG announced that the "fundamental strategic realignment" initiated over the past three years is entering its next phase, revealing plans to streamline its model lineup by up to half.
The company did not disclose specific details, leaving its other cost-cutting measures unclear and reigniting market speculation about the uncertain future of several German plants.
In his interview with the newspaper Bild am Sonntag, Blume said, "We have more sensible and constructive solutions than shutting down factories."
He added that a cost-reduction program in Germany is already beginning to yield results. "In the last year alone, we have successfully reduced costs at our German plants by an average of 20%," he stated, calling this achievement "significant progress."
Blume believes that Volkswagen AG's products are very popular, but "we earn far too little money with these products. Therefore, we must continuously reduce costs in all areas."
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