The LIDAR system (for autonomous driving) of a VW ID. BUZZ electrical van being put in throughout a media day on the Volkswagen AG industrial autos plant in Hanover, Germany, on Wednesday, March 4, 2026.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Photos
Auto large Volkswagen is planning to chop 100,000 jobs and finish manufacturing at 4 German crops over the approaching years, in keeping with a report from Supervisor Magazin, in a transfer that may symbolize probably the most radical overhaul within the agency’s 89-year historical past.
The plan, reported on Friday, would see Europe’s largest vehicle producer shed roughly 15% of its workforce because it seeks to counter intensifying competitors from Chinese language automotive manufacturers.
It will additionally see the Wolfsburg-headquartered firm scale back deliberate funding within the firm by about 15% to only over 130 billion euros ($148.2 billion) over the following 5 years and stop manufacturing at crops in Hanover, Zwickau, Emden, alongside Audi’s Neckarsulm web site.
Volkswagen had already laid out plans to implement sweeping job cuts and launched a significant product offensive because it seeks to spice up profitability.
The figures cited by Supervisor Magazin, nonetheless, symbolize a stark acceleration of these deliberate job cuts, on condition that round 50,000 jobs had been anticipated throughout the corporate in Germany by 2030.
Volkswagen agreed a take care of unions in late 2024 to keep away from manufacturing unit closures in Germany and rule out obligatory redundancies till the top of 2030.
A spokesperson for the corporate declined to touch upon “inner, confidential paperwork” when contacted by CNBC, saying selections can be taken and permitted by the related governing our bodies, in keeping with a Google translation.
“Your entire Group—together with its manufacturers and subsidiaries—should bear profound change,” the spokesperson mentioned.
Shares of Volkswagen have been final seen buying and selling 0.2% decrease on Friday. The inventory worth has fallen greater than 25% year-to-date.
Volkswagen shares within the year-to-date.
Volkswagen’s Common Works Council and German industrial union IG Metall pledged to push again towards the reported job cuts and plant closures.
“If such plans have been to be pushed ahead, we might forestall them with all our would possibly,” they mentioned in a joint assertion, in keeping with a translation.
Volkswagen had a workforce of about 657,400 staff on the finish of the primary quarter of 2026, in accordance to the corporate.
