German auto major Volkswagen's boss Thomas Schaefer has said that high costs and low productivity were making its cars uncompetitive, on account of which it was negotiating a cost cutting scheme at the VW brand with its workers council, Reuters reported. 

The company had previously said it planned to take advantage of the "demographic curve" to reduce its workforce, having pledged that it would not carry out dismissals until 2029, the newswire stated. 

In Monday's meeting, human resources board member Gunnar Kilian said this would be achieved through agreements on partial or early retirement.

However, the bulk of the 10 billion euro savings goal would be achieved through measures other than personnel reduction, Kilian added, with the full details to be defined by the end of the year, Reuters noted. 

"We need to finally be brave and honest enough to throw things overboard that are being duplicated within the company or are simply ballast we don't need for good results," Kilian said.