Volkswagen rules out plant closures

Europe's biggest carmaker Volkswagen will neither close factories nor sell off luxury brands in its drive to slash costs as it confronts a weak auto market, VW's chief executive told a German newspaper.
"There will be no plant closures," Bernd Pischetsrieder said in an interview to be published in the Welt am Sonntag on Sunday.
He added that he ruled out the sale of top designer brands such as Bentley or Bugatti and said the current model offensive, which has seen the German carmaker spend heavily on luxury marques such as the Phaeton, would not change.
Critics say the focus on designer brands by the long-time "people's car" manufacturer has come at the expense of reliable earners such as the Golf, whose fifth generation was received without enthusiasm late last year.