VW Design Centre employees protest against planned closure

Employees of the Volkswagen Group Future Centre in Potsdam - a design centre with around 100 employees - are protesting against the planned end to the unit's operations at the end of the year.

More than 50 employees protested at a rally organized by the IG Metall union against the closure of the almost 20-year-old site in eastern Germany on Monday.

"I want a fair chance," said works council chairman Anno Stake. "We did great projects here, we are still doing great projects."

Around two thirds of the site's budget has been cut over the past one and a half years due to internal restructuring within the Group.

The management of the VW Design Centre says it wants to find an answer that works in the interests of the workers. "The management of the Future Centre Potsdam regrets the current situation and is looking for the best possible solutions for the employees," Volkswagen Group Services told dpa.

The centre was opened in 2005 and later restructured and renamed. It was regarded as the group's largest development workshop worldwide following the first reorganization.

The teams of designers, digitalization and model construction experts develop vehicle concepts and designs for future vehicle generations - for example, self-driving cars.

"These tasks have now become part of series development for the brands and an integral part of individual vehicle projects," VW Group Services said. The operational business of the Volkswagen Group Future Centre Europe is therefore to be discontinued at the end of 2024, even though talks on its future are still ongoing.