German automaker Volkswagen AG and its labor unions have agreed to 30,000 job cuts by 2021 at its VW brand as part of a plan to boost profitability and fund a shift to electric and self-driving cars after its emissions scandal, a source said yesterday.
Europe’s largest automaker is trying to increase savings at its biggest unit in Germany, where its costs are high, while needing to find billions of euros to pay for the cleanup related to its diesel emissions cheating scandal.
The agreement, details of which were to be announced at a news conference yesterday, foresees 3.7 billion euros (US$3.9 billion) in annual savings at VW’s namesake brand, which would involve 23,000 job cuts in Germany alone, another source said.
Photo: EPA
VW Group, which has 610,076 employees worldwide, declined to comment.
The so-called future pact, which the two sides have been hammering out since June, aims to increase the brand’s operating margin from an expected 2 percent this year.
Labor leaders agreed to the cuts in exchange for a management pledge to create new jobs and invest in electric cars, mainly at factories in Germany.
At the same time as cutting traditional jobs, the VW brand is to create 9,000 new jobs through investments in electric car technology, the source said.
VW managers have agreed to build an electric sports utility vehicle at the company’s main plant in Wolfsburg, Germany, the first source said.
German newspaper Handelsblatt reported earlier that up to 30,000 jobs would be cut by 2020.
It also said about 10,000 jobs would be axed outside of Germany, mainly in North and South America.
END TO SPECULATION: The hotel’s management contract has been extended, despite reports that it wanted to end its alliance with Hyatt Hotels over a deal with Riant Capital Singapore-based Hong Leong Hotel Development Ltd (豐隆大飯店股份) yesterday said it has extended a management contract to ensure the continued presence of the Grand Hyatt brand in Taipei, ending rumors that the two sides were parting ways. “We are pleased Hyatt is able to come to terms on the extension of the management contract of Grand Hyatt Taipei,” said Kwek Leng Beng (郭令明), executive chairman of City Developments Ltd (城市發展) and Millennium & Copthorne Hotels Ltd (千禧國敦酒店). Hong Leong Hotel Development is a subsidiary of Millennium, and both fall under the Hong Leong Group (豐隆集團). The Grand Hyatt Taipei (台北君悅大飯店), owned and built by
’WHITE BOX’: The open platform would give local firms access to Cisco’s cloud-based mobile network to develop 5G telecom equipment and tap into the global market The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday introduced a new 5G “open lab” in collaboration with US-based information technology and networking giant Cisco Systems Inc to address the rapidly growing “white box” 5G networking equipment market. The open lab will be a platform where Taiwanese manufacturers can access Cisco’s cloud-based mobile network to develop their own 5G telecom equipment, such as small-cell base stations, network switches, modems and Internet of things (IoT) devices, a ministry statement said. The open platform would allow Taiwanese manufacturers to tap into the lucrative 5G telecom equipment market, which was previously monopolized by Nokia Oyj, Ericsson AB
Nintendo Co is raising its target for Switch production to about 25 million units this fiscal year, people familiar with the matter said, as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic keeps lifting demand and component shortages ease. The Kyoto, Japan-based company, which in April hiked orders to 22 million units by March next year, is asking partners to tack on another few million units, said the people, who did not want to be identified discussing internal goals. Assembly partners plan to work at maximum capacity through December. The new production target suggests that Nintendo is likely to outperform its Switch sales forecast of 19 million
‘BIG LOSS’: This year might see the last generation of Huawei’s Kirin chips, as their production would stop next month because they are made using US technology Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies Co (華為) is running out of processor chips to make smartphones due to US sanctions and would be forced to stop production of its own most advanced chips, a company executive has said, in a sign of growing damage to Huawei’s business from US pressure. Huawei, one of the biggest producers of smartphones and network equipment, is at the center of US-Chinese tension over technology and security. Washington last year cut off Huawei’s access to US components and technology, and those penalties were tightened in May, when the White House barred vendors worldwide from using US
RSS