The plant, at Palmela, south of Lisbon, makes large passenger vehicles and is Portugal's biggest single exporter.


"This company accord, approved on Tuesday by the workers, is yet another contribution to maintaining jobs," António Chora said. Of the 2,482 employees present at the meeting, more than three quarters voted in favour of the deal, he added.


"Guaranteeing the maintenance of the jobs was the most difficult part of this accord," Chora said, noting that the priority now is to find things for all the workers to do until the new VW model is assigned to the factory for production.


The accord also foresees the conversion of temporary contracts into permanent ones "taking account of the situation of the market and domestic indicators, as is usual company policy."


VW is facing major problems as a result of the scandal relating to faked emissions tests, which have prompted cutbacks at the parent company.