Volkswagen plans to cut up to 100,000 jobs
Article excerpt
Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume has presented plans to the company's board to eliminate up to 100,000 jobs over the coming years, according to a report from Germany's Manager Magazin. The cuts represent a sweeping cost-reduction effort as the automaker grapples with financial pressures. The scale of the layoffs would affect roughly one-fifth of the company's global workforce, making it one of the most significant restructuring announcements in the company's recent history. Blume's plan reflects the industry-wide challenge facing traditional carmakers as they navigate the transition to electric vehicles while managing rising production costs and competition from newer entrants. The job cuts would likely span multiple facilities across Europe and beyond, though the company has not yet publicly confirmed specific locations or timelines. Financial pressures and the capital-intensive shift to EV manufacturing have forced legacy automakers to reduce headcount and consolidate operations.
Germany’s biggest automaker Volkswagen plans to cut about 15 percent of jobs from its workforce of more than 650,000, according to a Friday report from Manager Magazin business magazine.
VW had previously announced it would cut about 50,000 jobs by 2030. Friday’s report says CEO Oliver Blume intends to double that figure, close four factories and spin off the VW brand. The automotive giant has been struggling financially, reporting a 14.3 percent drop in operating profit in the first quarter of 2026 to €2.46 billion. In 2025, Volkswagen Group reported a €8.9 billion operating profit, a 53 percent decline from 2024.
The magazine’s report, which cites anonymous sources, says Blume already presented a restructuring plan to the company’s board. Under the plan, VW factories in Hanover, Emden and Zwickau; the Audi factory in Neckarsulm would close in the medium term.
In an emailed statement to POLITICO, VW said it would “not comment on internal, confidential documents,” but added that “the entire Group, including its brands and subsidiaries, must undergo a profound transformation. To this end, the Group Executive Board has been working intensively over the past few months on a strategic plan for the company’s restructuring.”
VW has been squeezed by declining demand from China, tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump and a difficult transition to electric vehicles.
The company’s struggles mirror challenges faced by many of Germany’s industrial giants. Bosch announced 20,000 job cuts in January, and Mercedes-Benz is offering severance packages to around 40,000 employees as part of a cost-cutting effort. A 2025 study conducted for the German Ministry for Economic Affairs estimated that about 90,000 jobs in the German auto sector would disappear by 2030.
In response to the media report, representatives of VW’s works council and the German Metalworkers’ Union said Friday that “should such plans be pursued, we would do everything in our power to prevent them.”
With Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government fighting to stem the deindustrialization of Germany’s traditional industries amid intensifying competition from China, VW’s planned layoffs are also expected to trigger a wider political backlash.
Minister President of Lower Saxony Olaf Lies and Deputy Minister President of Lower Saxony Julia Willie Hamburg also said the state, which is the second-largest shareholder of VW, “will not approve any plan that relies on plant closures as a supposedly simple solution or that calls into question the proven system of co-determination.”
This story has been updated.