Audi Neckarsulm: Why Workers Are Protected Until 2034

Thousands of Audi Workers Protest Against Plant Closure in Germany

Roughly 6,000 Audi workers took to the streets in Neckarsulm this week, demanding answers on whether their plant will survive beyond 2030.

Jul 30, 2026

by Treasure Ayanfe Adetula

Roughly 6,000 Audi workers gathered outside the company's Neckarsulm plant on Wednesday, demanding clarity from Volkswagen over whether the facility that has employed generations of local families will still exist past 2030.

The turnout made this one of the largest labour protests Germany's auto industry has seen this year, and it landed on a day that made the anxiety feel less isolated. Rival premium carmaker BMW announced its own job cuts the same day, underlining how broadly Germany's auto sector is being squeezed right now.

Why Neckarsulm is on The Chopping Block

Neckarsulm isn't a marginal facility being trimmed for efficiency. The plant employs roughly 15,500 people and built 181,454 vehicles in 2025, producing Audi's A5, A6 and A8 sedans alongside low-volume production of the electric e-tron GT.

The problem is underutilization rather than failure. According to Reuters' video coverage, the plant currently runs at an annual capacity of 225,000 vehicles, roughly 75,000 below previous years.

An internal memo from Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume, circulated earlier this year, named Neckarsulm alongside three other German sites, Emden, Hanover and Zwickau, as facilities the company "cannot confirm competitive use cases for" beyond 2030, a line that has since become the centre of the entire dispute.