HANNOVER (dpa-AFX) - The Minister President of Lower Saxony, Stephan Weil, does not expect any Volkswagen brand plants to be closed. The SPD politician told the radio station NDR Info that alternatives must be discussed beforehand. This should now take place in confidential talks. The state of Lower Saxony is a major shareholder and Minister President Weil sits on the company's supervisory board.

VW announced on Monday that it would have to make substantial savings at its core brand. The previously planned job cuts through partial retirement and redundancy payments would no longer be sufficient to achieve the savings targets. Plant closures and compulsory redundancies at the core VW brand are no longer ruled out, Europe's largest car manufacturer announced. The agreement reached with the works council to safeguard jobs will be terminated. This excluded redundancies for operational reasons until 2029. Employee representatives and the trade union were appalled.

Weil: "VW must remain competitive"

Lower Saxony's Minister President emphasized that the company must remain competitive. To achieve this, VW must now do its homework. What exactly this will look like must now be clarified. The uncertainty among the workforce must be resolved as quickly as possible, Weil told the radio station. He did not know whether the management already had concrete plans to close individual plants.

The reasons for the crisis were not only external, Weil said. The automotive industry in Europe is currently in decline and there are new competitors from Chinese car manufacturers. However, VW had also failed to achieve the targets it had set itself for software development, for example. This is having an impact on the introduction of new vehicle models. It must now be ensured that Volkswagen is better positioned in all areas./xma/DP/mis