Volkswagen planning to cut up to 100,000 jobs globally

Volkswagen Group told staff on Thursday that it is weighing the elimination of up to 100,000 positions – roughly a sixth of its global workforce – as part of a sweeping restructuring aimed at halting a steep profit decline and confronting fierce competition from Chinese rivals.

Chief executive Oliver Blume said the “global situation has continued to deteriorate over the past twelve months” and stressed that the Group must become “more efficient, more robust and simpler”. In a memo he added that the Group’s costs are about 20 % higher than those of rival manufacturers, a gap he believes can only be closed by drastic cuts to headcount and complexity.

Media additions

"We are currently assessing across all brands, companies and regions how many adjustments are actually necessary and feasible,"

Oliver Blume, CEO, via Yahoo Finance

The financial backdrop is stark. Operating profit fell from €22.6 billion in 2023 to €19.1 billion in 2024 and then to €8.9 billion last year, according to the Yahoo Finance report. Sales in China were down 26 % in the first half of the year, while U.S. Volumes slipped more than 7 % amid tariff pressures.

Scale of the workforce overhaul

Volkswagen employs between 657 000 and 660 000 people worldwide across its portfolio of brands – VW, Audi, Porsche, Bentley, Lamborghini, Skoda, Seat, Cupra, Scout Motors and others. Cutting up to 100 000 jobs would represent roughly 15 % of that total, as reported by HR Executive and echoed by the Reuters briefing cited in the HR Executive story.

The plan would add to a 2024 agreement with the metalworkers’ union IG Metall that committed the Group to trim 35 000 jobs at the core VW brand and another 15 000 across its other marques by 2030. The new proposal therefore doubles the earlier target of about 50 000 posts that had already been pledged.

Four German factories are singled out for possible closure: Hanover, Emden, Zwickau and Audi’s Neckarsulm site. CNBC, citing Manager Magazin, put the combined workforce at those sites at more than 45 000 workers. Two of the plants – Zwickau and Emden – produce electric models, while Hanover and Neckarsulm are among the most costly to operate.

Production capacity and model‑lineup cuts

Alongside job reductions, VW plans to shrink its annual production capacity from the current 10 million vehicles to about 9 million, and to cut equipment options by up to 75 %. The Group also intends to halve its global model portfolio, concentrating on “the most attractive market segments”.

German factories are already operating below optimal utilisation. Reuters data cited in the Aol story estimated the Group’s German plants would run at roughly 81 % of standard capacity in 2026, falling to about 73 % by the end of the decade. The Zwickau plant, for example, was forecast to operate at 88 % in 2026 but could drop to 42 % by 2030 if demand does not recover.

Investment cuts and corporate spin‑offs

Reuters, as quoted by the HR Executive piece, reported that Blume and CFO Arno Antlitz are also planning to spin off the core VW brand and the parts division into separate entities. At the same time, the Group intends to trim planned investment by roughly 15 % to just over €130 billion over the next five years.

Union resistance and governance dynamics

German labour representatives have mounted strong opposition. A joint statement reported by CNBC said IG Metall and Volkswagen’s General Works Council would “prevent” any plan that pushes the cuts forward with “all our might”. The Reuters briefing noted that the supervisory board voted 12‑7 against management’s broader restructuring proposal after labor representatives opposed its employment and production measures.

Large‑scale protests erupted at VW sites across the country in the week before the supervisory‑board meeting, as described in the Yahoo Finance and AOL accounts. Workers demanded clearer guarantees on job security, especially given that many employees are covered by employment contracts that do not expire until 2030.

What comes next

The supervisory board is set to discuss the full scope of the proposal on 9 July. Analysts note that even if the 100 000‑job figure is reduced – as suggested by some industry observers who view the number as a negotiating lever – any substantial reduction will reshape the Group’s cost structure, affect regional economies in Lower Saxony and Baden‑Württemberg, and influence the competitive balance in Europe’s EV market.