Automotive and business brief

Snapshot

• VW’s internal guidelines target a ‘pay freeze until 2030’ for much of its roughly 600,000 staff worldwide (Süddeutsche Zeitung)
• VW Puebla: both sides meet at the Labour Ministry today; the union says the conditions for another extension are not there, and Taos output drops to one shift around November
• Harness peer Fujikura Automotive Romania will cut 309 jobs at its Dej plant as its main project reaches end of life; dismissals start at the end of October

Top Developments

1. VW’s internal guidelines target a ‘pay freeze until 2030’ for much of its roughly 600,000 staff worldwide (Süddeutsche Zeitung)

   According to internal documents seen by the Süddeutsche Zeitung (Monday 19 Oct edition), VW is rolling out its board-approved Group Target Picture to international management. The documents include new guidelines for wage bargaining that apply from Q4: a ‘pay freeze until 2030’ through ‘suspension of wage increases’, plus cuts to variable pay, special payments and benefits, and further job reductions.…

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   Sources: Süddeutsche Zeitung (19 Oct, paywall) · FOCUS online (19 Oct) · t-online (19 Oct)

2. VW Puebla: both sides meet at the Labour Ministry today; the union says the conditions for another extension are not there, and Taos output drops to one shift around November

   On 16 Oct, Mexico’s Labour Ministry (STPS) and the federal conciliation centre urged VW de México and the SITIAVW union to resume talks after members rejected the 13.16% deal (Reuters). La Jornada de Oriente reports that company and union are summoned to the STPS in Mexico City on Monday 19 Oct.…

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   Sources: La Jornada de Oriente (18 Oct) · El Economista (18 Oct) · Reuters via El Nuevo Herald (16 Oct)

3. Harness peer Fujikura Automotive Romania will cut 309 jobs at its Dej plant as its main project reaches end of life; dismissals start at the end of October

   Fujikura Automotive România plans to cut 309 positions at its plant in Dej (Cluj county) as part of a capacity reduction. Of these, 45 are indirect production roles, and 16 office (TESA) jobs are also being cut. Dismissals are scheduled to start at the end of October. The company cites a lower revenue outlook for the April 2026–March 2027 financial year, partly because the plant’s main project is reaching the end of its life cycle. This is the second large cut in a year, after about 230 dismissals in 2025.…

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   Sources: Capital.ro (26 Sep, RO) · AlbaPress (RO)

4. Mahle plans a second collective dismissal at Motilla del Palancar (Spain): 170 more jobs, about 35% of the plant, because electrification demand has not recovered

   Unions CCOO and UGT said on 16 Oct that Mahle has told staff and the works council it will run a new collective-dismissal procedure (ERE) for 170 jobs at Motilla del Palancar (Cuenca). That is about 35% of a workforce of around 500. The Paterna (Valencia) plant is not affected. A year ago, a first ERE ended with 466 dismissals (initially 550 planned).…

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   Sources: elDiario.es / EFE–Europa Press (16 Oct, ES) · Europa Press (16 Oct, ES)

5. Morocco’s first battery gigafactory: Gotion starts commissioning its production equipment in Kenitra this week (from 20 Oct)

   Gotion Power Morocco (GPM), a subsidiary of Gotion High-Tech, said it will begin commissioning and starting up the production equipment at its LFP plant in the Kenitra Atlantic Free Zone during the week of 20 Oct. The first phase covers 20 GWh of cells, battery packs and storage systems plus 100,000 t of cathode materials, with an investment of MAD 13bn (about $1.3bn). The first cell line starts in October and a second in November, with sales of assembled batteries planned by year-end.…

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   Sources: Morocco World News (12 Oct) · Walaw (EN)

6. thyssenkrupp Automotive Technology and China’s Inovance sign a steer-by-wire MoU: China first, then international markets

   Under the MoU announced on 14 Oct, the two companies will jointly develop and industrialise steer-by-wire systems. thyssenkrupp contributes steering, system integration and functional-safety expertise. Inovance Automotive contributes electronics, software, actuators and industrialisation capability in China; it has plants in China, Hungary and Thailand, about 9,400 staff and €2.7bn sales (FY2025). The initial focus is China, followed by other markets.…

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   Sources: thyssenkrupp Automotive Technology (14 Oct) · Just Auto (15 Oct)

7. Copper: the Centinela strike is over, but record-negative treatment charges point to a deep concentrate shortage ahead of 2027 contract talks; LME about $14,450/t

   Reuters (19 Oct): LME three-month copper rose 0.31% to $14,452.50/t at 03:30 GMT, and SHFE November copper rose 0.41% to ¥109,900. Antofagasta recently sold Centinela concentrate at a treatment charge of −$310/t, and a Los Pelambres tender cleared near −$330/t. Negative charges mean smelters pay miners to process concentrate, a sign of an acute raw-material shortage ahead of the annual 2027 supply-contract talks. Chinese smelting capacity has grown more than 70% in a decade to an estimated 13–14 Mt this year.…

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   Sources: Reuters via Boursorama (19 Oct, FR) · BioBioChile (18 Oct, ES)

8. China says it will keep approving rare-earth export licences for Europe regardless of the US truce deadline, which has been extended to January

   On 15 Oct, Commerce Ministry spokesperson He Yadong said China stands ready to keep facilitating the review and approval of rare-earth export licences to Europe. He asked the EU to reciprocate by helping resolve key licence cases for Chinese entities in the dual-use field (Global Times). Asked by CNBC about the upcoming US–China truce deadline, he said China is willing to keep approving licences to Europe; CNBC reports that exports to Europe are set to continue whether or not the US deal is extended.…

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   Sources: CNBC (15 Oct) · Global Times (15 Oct, MOFCOM)

9. Toyota adds the hybrid-only Lexus NX in Cambridge, Ontario from December, while Detroit carmakers shrink Canadian output

   Bloomberg (16 Oct): the updated, hybrid-only Lexus NX goes into production in December at Toyota’s Cambridge complex, which also builds the RAV4 and Lexus RX. About 85% of output is exported, mostly to the US. Toyota’s Ontario plants built 537,518 vehicles last year. Toyota invested $1.1bn for the latest RAV4 (in production since January) and hundreds of millions more for the NX.…

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   Sources: National Post / Bloomberg (16 Oct) · The Plant Floor

10. Subaru plans software-defined vehicles from the late 2020s on an integrated ECU with an AMD co-developed chip, aims to cut development time by about 40%, and has no plans to adopt Toyota’s Arene

    At a strategy briefing at its research centre in Sano City on Sunday 18 Oct, Subaru said it will launch SDVs in the second half of this decade and gradually deploy a newly developed integrated ECU across its line-up. The chip at the core of the ECU was co-developed with AMD. The SDVs will get over-the-air updates for driver-assistance, automated-driving and vehicle-performance functions.…

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    Sources: Reuters via Business Recorder (19 Oct) · Reuters via StreetInsider (19 Oct)

11. China JV shake-up: GAC will buy FAW’s 50% of FAW Toyota through a share issue, and FAW Toyota and GAC Toyota will pool R&D, purchasing, production and sales

    FAW, Toyota and GAC signed a framework agreement for a new strategic alliance in Guangzhou on 8 Oct. GAC will acquire FAW’s 50% stake in FAW Toyota through a stock issuance, and FAW will become a key strategic shareholder of GAC. FAW Toyota will continue to operate as an independent company. In a later phase, FAW Toyota and GAC Toyota will form an alliance covering R&D, procurement, production and sales. electrive (17 Oct) reports the deal is now confirmed by all parties.…

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    Sources: Toyota Global Newsroom (8 Oct) · electrive (17 Oct)

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