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VW plans thousands of job cutsBy CNN Correspondent Chris Burns  Pischetsrieder says the international auto industry is suffering from considerable overcapacity. YOUR E-MAIL ALERTSBERLIN, Germany (CNN ) -- Volkswagen, Europe's largest car maker, says it plans thousands of job cut as it continues its cost-cutting program. "Despite rising sales, the Volkswagen Group still has considerable overcapacity and will therefore be intensifying its efforts to cut back manpower," Volkswagen said in a statement Monday. VW Chairman Bernd Pischetsrieder, speaking at a company meeting, said the international auto industry is suffering from considerable overcapacity, and he expects competition to increase. "In view of the worldwide competition pressure, we need wide-ranging cost cuts in every domain. That includes personnel costs," a company statement quoted Pischetsrieder as saying. VW will either have to cut personnel costs or the number of employees or both, he said. Due to high costs at the company's main plant in Wolfsburg, VW is considering producing its new Golf Marrakech sports utility vehicle in Portugal, where costs are lower, the statement said. Despite past labor union negotiations, VW in Germany, particularly at Wolfsburg, has "a personnel overhang in the order of several thousand employees." IG Metall insisted in a statement that the November 2004 agreement with VW ensured the Marrakech would be built in Wolfsburg, and that it successfully established the economic conditions for it. But the union's Wolfsburg leader welcomed what it said was Pischetsrieder's preparedness to find a negotiated solution. The union also said that it would be possible to reduce the work force through attrition only, without layoffs, under last year's agreement guaranteeing VW jobs through 2011. The company statement follows German media reports that VW could eliminate 10 percent of its 100,000 jobs in Germany. 
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