Volkswagen boss Oliver Blume expects a decision on the future of the VW plant in Osnabruck this year. “We will no longer produce Volkswagen Group products in Osnabrück from 2027 and are therefore in intensive discussions with companies in the defense industry,” said Blume in a previously published interview with the Picture-Newspaper. “And I am very confident that we will make a decision on this this year.”
“Everyone in Germany wants and needs security,” said Blume. “The federal government has a clear mandate to make our country defensible.”
“Vehicles for military transport”
Despite the new direction, the CEO emphasized that Volkswagen will not produce weapons. »We will apply our know-how where we are best. Vehicles for military transport could be one direction. We’re not talking about tanks.”
In March they had Financial Times reports that VW is negotiating with the Israeli state-owned company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems to produce parts for the Israeli Iron Dome missile defense system in the factory with 2,300 jobs. Accordingly, trucks are to be built to transport the rockets, as well as launch devices and power generators, but not the missiles themselves.