Volkswagen's chief executive, Oliver Blume, was booed by more than 10,000 workers at the company's Wolfsburg headquarters after urging staff to "pull together" amid plans for a sweeping restructuring that could involve widespread job losses and factory closures. The confrontation, his first public appearance since details of the cuts emerged, underscores the depth of anger within Europe's largest carmaker as it grapples with fierce Chinese competition, falling Chinese sales and steep US tariffs, compounding years of declining profits and overcapacity in Europe.

Blume said roughly half of the anticipated 50,000 job cuts would fall in Germany, with the rest spread internationally across some 170 companies, though he stressed this was a "theoretical calculation" rather than a firm target, based on VW's costs being about 30% above comparable rivals. He said management preferred voluntary measures such as phased retirement over forced redundancies, and described factory closures as a last resort, floating alternatives including defence production and building China-market electric vehicles at German plants. Car production at Osnabrück is set to end as soon as next year, with no manufacturing plans beyond 2030 at Emden, Zwickau, Neckarsulm and Hanover. Works council leader Daniela Cavallo said trust in Blume had been "damaged", accusing him of being vague about the plans.