Starting 2027, VW Factory In Germany Operates Four Days Per Week

JAKARTA - Volkswagen (VW) is rumored to be starting its factory restructuring in Wolfsburg, Germany in 2027 by imposing a four-day operation in a week for the time being.

This is done in order to prepare the production space specifically for electric vehicles.

Volkswagen's Head of Workers Union, Daniela Cavallo, said labor unions had approved a minimum capacity utilization for the transition period, but urged workers to take additional shifts ahead of the transition period to offset possible reduced working hours in the coming years.

"We have to make provisions now so we can take advantage of them later which starts in 2027 and beyond. Four working days a week while it is not an unreasonable scenario," Cavallo was quoted as saying by Reuters on Thursday, June 5.

Earlier in December, Volkswagen had agreed with workers to cut costs in Germany including the transfer of production of the Golf combustion engine from Wolfsburg to Mexico from 2027.

This had raised concerns among some employees at the automaker's head office about the future of Wolfsburg's plant.

However, Cavallo ensures the factory's future is not threatened by planning to assemble a number of new models such as EV versions of Golf to the successors to T-Roc by the end of the decade.

ICE's global version of Golf production, based at the plant, has fallen by more than one million in 2015 to more than 300,000 by 2024 and will decrease from year to year.

According to the graph compiled by the unions, the production of the hatchback this year will only reach 250,000 units.