Volkswagen shareholder pitches producing China cars in Germany

Volkswagen could secure jobs in Germany if it produced auto models there that it currently develops in China, the ​premier of the German state of Lower Saxony, a ‌major shareholder, was quoted as saying.

Lower Saxony premier Olaf Lies made his remarks to German news agency DPA following reports on Friday that ​the embattled carmaking giant is considering shutting four German factories ​and ramping up job cuts to as many as ⁠100,000.

"If we produced vehicles here that we currently make in ​China, we could stabilise capacity utilisation of our plants," Lies ​said in an interview published at the weekend.

"This would also create the opportunity for new development and innovation at our locations. To me, it's ​about stabilising employment and capacity utilisation at our plants, instead ​of watching others build new plants outside of Germany."

Lower Saxony, where Volkswagen is ‌based ⁠and where it operates five of its six western German assembly plants, has a 20% voting stake in the company.

Volkswagen is under pressure from Chinese rivals, US import tariffs, as well ​as dwindling demand ​in Europe, ⁠which the firm has said makes its business model unsustainable.

Lies, a member of the centre-left Social ​Democrats, had floated the idea of exploring production ​of ⁠cars made for the Chinese market in Germany after a visit to China in April.

On Saturday, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper ⁠reported that ​Volkswagen's subsidiary Porsche is looking at ​shifting production of its Cayenne SUV from Slovakia to its Leipzig plant in ​Germany to boost capacity utilisation.

-Reuters