Volkswagen's announcement on Monday (September 2) that it is considering closing factories in Germany is unprecedented in the German automaker's 87-year history. Such plant closures were considered off the table for the Wolfsburg-based company.

To make matters even worse for the 680,000 VW employees worldwide, the management also feels forced to end its job security program which has been in place since 1994 and prevents job cuts until 2029.

Experts are already talking about a significant paradigm shift at Germany's largest industrial employer, which due to its shareholder structure has always been an enterprise controlled by the state and the Porsche family. The regional state of Lower Saxony still holds one-fifth of the company's shares and a permanent seat on the supervisory board, meaning securing jobs and factories has always been seen as matters of state interest.

That could change now that the management believes the company is in a precarious position. Last year, Volkswagen launched a cost-cutting program aimed at saving €10 billion ($11.06 billion) by 2026. However, the mass-market carmaker would need to cut an additional €4 billion, according to a report by German business daily Handelsblatt.

In a letter to employees on Monday, VW brand chief Thomas Schäfer described the........

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