FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Volkswagen’s CEO, who is pushing for unprecedented cutbacks in the German carmaker’s home market, said change was needed because the European market is shrinking while competition is increasing.

Speaking in an interview in Sunday paper Bild am Sonntag, Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume said “the pie has become smaller, and we have more guests at the table”.

“Fewer cars are being sold in Europe. At the same time, new competitors from Asia are forcefully pushing into the market,” he was quoted as saying.

Volkswagen said on Monday it was considering taking the unprecedented step of closing factories in Germany and ending job guarantees at six of its plants in a drive to deepen a 10 billion euro ($11 billion) cost-cutting plan.

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger; Editing by Jan Harvey)