Lower thirds:

00:02 Report by / Dan Hirschfeld
00:18 Stephanie Haferkorn / VW Employee in Zwickau
00:59 Michael Kucks / VW Employee in Zwickau
01:38 Doreen Reinhold / Baker
02:03 Ilona Waleszczyk / Customer
02:29 Lisa Burger / Perfumery owner
02:51 Silvia Queck / Deputy Mayor of Zwickau

Script:

They're angry, disappointed, and desperate. Volkswagen employees in Zwickau, Saxony, learned from the newspaper that their plant is on a list of four Volkswagen sites the automaker might close.

0:18
+++ Stephanie Haferkorn, VW Employee in Zwickau +++
"My entire world is falling apart. I'm very worried. We're also all angry because every day we're doing our best at work. My feelings are chaotic, I can't even describe it."

0:31
The Volkswagen plant in Zwickau is actually one of the group's most modern facilities. The last internal combustion engine vehicle rolled off the assembly line there in 2020. Ever since, the 9,000 employees here have been making solely electric cars. However, Volkswagen's electric vehicles are selling poorly - especially in the key Chinese market.

Closing the plant would be a disaster for the many supplier companies as well - and for the entire Zwickau region. 

0:57
+++ Michael Kucks, VW Employee in Zwickau +++
"The entire region depends on this. We got suppliers, we're talking tens of thousands of jobs. And even the little bakeries, the butchers.. they all depend on the plant.. cause people here won't have any income.."

01:11
Master baker Heiko Reinhold knows it all too well. At his shop, business is particularly brisk around shift changes at the plant.

Reinhold runs the small bakery with his wife, as the third generation of the family business. Many of the customers they serve work at Volkswagen. When the night shift at the plant was cut, sales dropped, and the bakery had to lay off two of its 15 employees.

1:37
+++ Doreen Reinhold, Baker +++
"There's uncertainty.. nobody knows what's going to happen. I'm thinking of the families, too.. the people who built a life here.. that have mortgages to pay off."

1:51
The crisis at VW is all they talk about even in the narrow streets of Zwickau’s historic center - after all, nearly every family has someone working at the plant.

02:02
+++ Ilona Waleszczyk, Customer +++
"My niece, yes.. no idea what's going to happen. She started her apprenticeship last year.. as a technician."

At André and Lisa Burger’s perfumery, they say that many shops in Zwickau already had to close as people are no longer spending much. Every piece of bad news about Volkswagen takes another toll on their business.

2:29
+++ Lisa Burger, Perfumery Owner +++
"We will sick thinking about what's going to happen. I want to say, we're scared of the consequences. We are catering to the luxury sector, with products people don't need on a daily basis."

2:46
The uncertainty among the people is also felt at Zwickau's city hall.

2:52
+++ Silvia Queck, Deputy Mayor of Zwickau +++
"We will feel this primarily in consumer behavior. People who fear for their jobs may no longer shop the way they used to. They might stop going to restaurants simply. But we will also feel an impact in the construction sector - when people stop investing in real estate, or perhaps in the commercial sector as well."

03:07
Nevertheless, they want to fight here, says the deputy mayor. For every single job -- if Volkswagen goes through with their plans.

END