Volkswagen is not in active discussions with Chinese car manufacturers regarding overcapacity at its factories in Europe, Reuters reported Wednesday, citing CEO Oliver Blume's remarks to workers at a general assembly.
Blume made the remarks in a bid to assuage workers' worries about staffing but noted the problem of overcapacity needs to be addressed, Reuters reported, citing Blume.
"We still have excess capacity at our plants in Europe and Germany. We need to address this in order to remain competitive," the newswire quoted Blume.
Despite three years of belt tightening, including 50,000 job cuts in Germany, the car manufacturer would not return to pre-pandemic sales in Europe, Reuters said, citing Blume.
The need to form joint ventures with domestic manufacturers to localize in key markets such as China is killing the business model of German car exports to the world, the newswire said, citing the CEO.
Volkswagen has promised to avoid closing factories in Germany to avoid the ire of German unions and the carmakers' works council, Reuters said.
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