Audi offers workers temporary placements with defence companies
Wednesday 7th October 2026 on 12:15 in
Bavaria
Audi is offering some employees the chance to work for defence companies in the Ingolstadt region for up to two years, BR reports. The pilot programme is intended to help companies in the metal and electrical industries meet staffing needs while Audi faces weaker demand.
The placements are voluntary. Workers will remain Audi employees and keep their existing collectively agreed pay, plus an additional allowance. After 24 months, they can return to Audi.
The programme is aimed at engineers, quality engineers, project managers and employees in workshops supporting technical development and quality assurance. Audi says interest has been “very high”. It is working with MBDA, Diehl, KNDS and Airbus, as well as Bavaria’s economics ministry and the federal economics ministry.
The initiative comes as Audi and its parent company Volkswagen pursue cost-cutting measures. Audi plans to reduce its workforce by 7,500 jobs by 2029 through measures including phased retirement. A job guarantee remains in place until 2033. Neither the Ingolstadt nor the Neckarsulm plant is running at full capacity, the report says.
Defence companies, by contrast, are seeking to expand. MBDA, based in Schrobenhausen, says it plans to double missile production and investment by 2030, and hire 2,800 people across Europe.
Audi says the scheme is intended to broaden employees’ career prospects and support regional demand for skilled workers. Airbus said it was supporting Audi and that details were still being worked out. Audi plans to hold an information event for interested employees in late October. It has not said how many workers could take part, and whether the programme will also be offered to employees in Neckarsulm remains undecided.
Volkswagen and Audi are under pressure from cost-cutting needs and changes in the global car market. The report cites US tariffs on many imported cars and parts, competition from Chinese manufacturers and the expense of investing in electric mobility and new technologies.