Volkswagen board to discuss brand overhaul on Nov. 4 - sources

BERLIN (Reuters) - The supervisory board of Volkswagen will hold an extraordinary meeting on Friday, Nov. 4, to consult on a wide-ranging restructuring of the carmaker, two supervisory board sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

Management and labour leaders are currently seeking to reach agreement on cost cuts and strategy in time for a Nov. 18 meeting of the supervisory board to ratify spending targets across the group for the coming years.

The sheer size of the revamp, with the need for cost savings amplified by Volkswagen's diesel emissions scandal, made the extraordinary meeting necessary, the sources said, adding no decisions were expected to be made.

 

Herbert Diess, head of the German carmaker's core VW brand, wants to cut annual costs at the troubled division by 3.7 billion euros through 2021 in a so-called future pact with workers, sources familiar with the negotiations told Reuters last month.

German newspaper Handelsblatt, which was first to report the extraordinary meeting, said that costs were to be cut by 8 billion euros across the group.

VW and the group's works council declined to comment.

(Reporting by Andreas Cremer; Writing by Christoph Steitz; Editing by Alexander Smith)