Volkswagen’s premium brand Audi intends to cut expenses by 15 billion euros ($17 billion) by 2022, Germany’s Manager Magazin business monthly reported on Thursday, citing Audi executives.
The cost cuts would assist finance projects such as a shift to electromobility at Audi, the magazine stated.
A spokeswoman for Audi said cost-cutting strategies had not yet been finalized, but that the scale of cuts reported by the magazine was correct.
Savings are generally important for Volkswagen following an emissions scandal and fines associated with it. It also deals with the costs to make its combustion engines comply with new anti-pollution regulations.
Future job vacancies will not be refilled, Manager Magazin stated, mentioning finance chief Alexander Seitz, adding this would lead to a 3 percent reduction in Audi’s staff per year, or around 14,000 jobs in five years.
A spokeswoman for Audi stated has rejected those numbers.
She said Audi’s management was discussing the labor representatives as the company evaluates how many workers it will need at its different sites in the future, considering continued changes in the automotive sector.
The spokeswoman added that employees at Audi’s plants in Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm still had union-negotiated task guarantees through 2025.
Audi has almost 91,700 employees across the world, of which around 61,500 are in Germany.
