| Thanks for reading Hyperdrive, Bloomberg's newsletter on the future of the auto world. Read today's featured story in full online here. Volkswagen and unions started negotiations over wide-ranging cost cuts on Wednesday, with tensions between the two sides higher than they've been in years. The talks center on VW's plan to potentially shutter factories in Germany for the first time after scrapping decades-old job protections earlier this month. The IG Metall union has vowed to fight those plans, threatening strikes that could paralyze Europe's biggest carmaker for weeks. "There will be no talks about factory closures and mass layoffs with us," said Thorsten Gröger, the union's lead negotiator. If VW sticks to its cutback plans, then "tens of thousands of colleagues will force the company back on the right track."  Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume. Source: Bloomberg The dispute is a major test for Chief Executive Officer Oliver Blume after union clashes felled a number of his predecessors. The CEO has warned costs in Germany are too high as sales wane and Chinese manufacturers push into Europe. VW has also lost momentum in the key Asian market, where homegrown brands dominate the electric-car landscape. The first round of talks takes place in Hanover, where hundreds of union members gathered on Wednesday, many carrying flags and blowing whistles. Both sides are still far apart, with IG Metall demanding a 7% wage hike for industrial workers. Labor leaders have said that employees shouldn't have to suffer for management blunders including VW's poor performance in the US. Blume's main target is VW's underperforming namesake passenger car brand, whose profit margins are getting squeezed amid a sputtering transition to EVs and a consumer spending slowdown. VW could force through decisions on plant closures this year, paving the way for cutting more than 15,000 jobs, analysts at Jefferies said earlier this month. The carmaker is eyeing closing two to three facilities, with as many as five German sites under consideration, the analysts said.  IG Metall union members in Hanover, Germany, on Sept. 25. Photographer: Ronny Hartmann/Getty Images Earlier this month, VW got an early taste of the wrath triggered by its cutback plans, with thousands of workers shouting down managers at the company's Wolfsburg factory, which is Europe's largest. Executives lamented flagging sales that have left it with about two plants too many. Job cuts at VW are harder to push through than elsewhere. Half the seats on its supervisory board are held by labor representatives, and the German state of Lower Saxony — which owns a 20% stake — often sides with trade unions. "Volkswagen needs solutions now," Stephan Weil, Lower Saxony premier and a supervisory board member, said Wednesday in state parliament. Making the carmaker competitive "is the basis for long-term economic success and secure jobs." Strikes could start as soon as Dec. 1, when a grace period between VW and the union runs out.  Donald Trump. Photographer: Brandon Bell/Getty Images North America Donald Trump wants to convince foreign manufacturers — including automakers — to shift their operations to the US using tax incentives as well as the threat of tariffs. "Under my leadership we're going to take other countries' jobs" and their factories, the former president said Tuesday at a campaign event in Savannah, Georgia. Addressing voter anxieties over jobs and wages, Trump also pledged to impose steep duties on companies that make products elsewhere to sell them into the US. "I want German car companies to become American car companies," he said. "I want them to build their plants here." | 
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