BERLIN, July 12 — Volkswagen Group chief executive Oliver Blume said he believed the carmaker could avoid factory closures as it presses ahead with efforts to cut costs, reported German news agency dpa.

“There are smarter solutions than closing plants,” Blume told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper in an interview published today.

A cost-cutting programme at Volkswagen’s German production sites was already delivering results, he said.

“We were able to reduce our factory costs in Germany by an average of 20 per cent last year alone. That’s significant progress.”

Blume’s comments came after a meeting of the supervisory board on Thursday, where he reportedly failed to secure approval for a more far-reaching cost-cutting package.

According to a report in the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, which cites sources within the group, representatives of the workforce and the German state of Lower Saxony voted against the package.

Details of the rejected package have so far emerged only through media reports.

According to Manager Magazin, up to 100,000 jobs could be cut worldwide - twice as many as previously planned.

Bild reported that the figure could even be as high as 120,000.

Four of the Group’s plants in Germany are also under threat of closure including a factory operated by VW’s Audi subsidiary. — Bernama-dpa