After kicking off the event at the Wolfsburg headquarters, VW Group CEO Oliver Blume took questions from the workforce at the Emden plant. Blume arrived that morning on a VW Airservice flight at the airport in East Frisia. The second of a total of nine town hall meetings had been eagerly anticipated because the Emden site has recently and repeatedly been listed among the plants at risk of closure. Regarding potential plant closures, Blume most recently referred to them as a last resort that he would prefer to avoid. For the four plants in Emden, Zwickau, and Hanover, as well as at the subsidiary Audi in Neckarsulm, there is currently no “competitive capacity utilization” plan for the 2030s. No decisions on closures have been made, Blume said on Tuesday in Wolfsburg at the start of the works meetings. “Our goal is to create solid prospects for all locations over the next 6 to 12 months.” The works council and the union in Emden had already reacted in July with protests to reports of the group’s intensified cost-cutting plans. There was widespread surprise that the Emden plant was reportedly on the brink of closure, since the last internal combustion engine vehicle had rolled off the assembly line there as early as the end of 2024. Following a billion-euro investment in its Emden plant, VW now exclusively manufactures electric cars such as the ID.7 there. The plant employs around 7,700 workers. The site is considered the most important industrial employer in East Frisia. After Emden, Blume was scheduled to travel on to Zwickau, where the future of the plant is also in doubt. Copyright 2026, dpa (www.dpa.de). All rights reservedVW had invested billions in Emden
