Audi workers vow to fight against any job cuts

A labour leader at German luxury carmaker Audi on Tuesday vowed to launch a fierce struggle against a billion-dollar austerity programme reportedly planned by company executives.

"If the company does not give in soon, there will be a rampage," warned Audi works council chairman Jörg Schlagbauer in an interview with Focus magazine.

Schlagbauer said that the "list of horrors" being pushed by Audi management would be firmly resisted by workers and that they were preparing for "all eventualities."

The list concerns, among other things, plans to cut up to €1 billion ($1.1 billion) in personnel costs, including by slashing up to 9,000 jobs, according to a February report by the Handelsblatt newspaper.

Audi management have not publicly confirmed the plans, but the reports have unleashed fears among the workforce at the carmaker, a subsidiary of German auto giant Volkswagen.

Negotiations between Audi management and the works council are currently under way.

Schlagbauer said among his priorities in talks is getting an agreement to produce another car model at Audi's flagship factory in the Bavarian city of Ingolstadt in order to utilize the plant's capacity.

"We will not conclude a new basic agreement with the company without a concrete commitment," he said.

The ongoing downturn in Germany's economy is not the only reason Audi is now facing trouble.

In recent years, Audi has missed deadlines to launch several new models. In 2024, overall sales at Audi slumped by 12% year-on-year to 1.67 million vehicles.

Sales figures for electric Audi models also fell, even though the global market for electric cars is growing.