BERLIN: Volkswagen AG plans to get rid of 100,000 jobs and finish manufacturing at 4 German crops over the approaching years, in keeping with a report printed Friday, a transfer that might mark probably the most radical restructuring within the automaker’s 89-year historical past.
The plan, reported by Supervisor Magazin, would see Europe’s largest automaker shed roughly 15% of its workforce because it faces intensifying competitors from Chinese language electrical automobile manufacturers. The Wolfsburg-based firm would additionally cut back deliberate funding by about 15% over the following 5 years to simply over 130 billion euros ($148.2 billion), the report mentioned.
Manufacturing would stop at crops in Hanover, Zwickau, Emden and at Audi’s Neckarsulm web site, according to Supervisor Magazin.
Volkswagen had beforehand outlined sweeping job cuts and launched a significant product offensive to spice up profitability. However the figures cited by Supervisor Magazin symbolize a pointy acceleration of these plans. Earlier expectations had referred to as for about 50,000 job reductions throughout Germany by 2030.
In late 2024, Volkswagen reached an settlement with unions to keep away from manufacturing facility closures in Germany and rule out obligatory redundancies via the tip of 2030.
“The complete Group together with its manufacturers and subsidiaries should endure profound change,” a Volkswagen spokesperson mentioned.
Shares of Volkswagen traded 0.2% decrease Friday and have fallen greater than 25% year-to-date.
Volkswagen’s Normal Works Council and the IG Metall industrial union pledged to combat the reported cuts and closures. “If such plans have been to be pushed ahead, we’d stop them with all our would possibly,” they mentioned in a joint assertion, in keeping with a translation.
Volkswagen employed about 657,400 individuals on the finish of the primary quarter of 2026, in keeping with firm figures.
