The Volkswagen Group is planning a radical restructuring that, according to a media report, is set to involve an even steeper round of job cuts than previously planned, as well as factory closures in Germany. Manager Magazin reported on Friday, citing insider sources, that up to 100,000 jobs are planned to be cut globally, and four plants are to be closed. The group did not confirm the figures but spoke of "far-reaching" changes ahead.
"The Board of Management has spent the past several months working intensively on a future plan for repositioning the company," a VW spokesperson said. The current business model, developing cars in Germany, manufacturing them in Europe and exporting them worldwide, no longer works for all brands, he added. He pointed to tariffs, intensifying competition and broadly deteriorating market conditions.
Manager Magazin reported that VW CEO Oliver Blume presented the Board of Management with a restructuring plan that includes the worldwide job cuts. According to the 2025 annual report, nearly 663,000 people were employed at Volkswagen at the time. In Germany, the report identifies plants in Hanover, Zwickau and Emden, as well as the Audi facility in Neckarsulm, as facing potential closure. Blume is also said to be planning to spin off the core Volkswagen brand into a new company.
The latest plans come on top of measures already announced in recent months. In 2025, Volkswagen recorded a collapse in net profit of nearly half, prompting the company to announce earlier this spring a reduction of 50,000 positions by 2030. The Handelsblatt newspaper reported on Friday, citing company sources, that more than 37,000 terminations across the group have now been contractually agreed upon. According to the report, around 27,000 employees will leave the company voluntarily by the end of this year alone.
"The world has fundamentally changed in recent years. Over the past twelve months, the situation has deteriorated further," the company spokesperson said. "To remain successful under these conditions, we must evolve. The entire group must significantly improve its competitiveness."
"The figure of 100,000 is possibly intended to cause fear and create a willingness to negotiate among the workforce," said Frank Schwope, automotive market expert at Hannover University of Applied Sciences.
The same applies to the plant closures, he added. He considers it questionable whether they will actually materialise, not least because the state of Lower Saxony is a major shareholder in VW. "The plants in Zwickau and Emden were also converted for electric mobility and therefore have prospects with regard to the transformation towards electric vehicles."
The investigative network Correctiv reported, also citing insider sources, that the planned spin-off of the core Volkswagen brand could have implications for the co-determination rights of the state of Lower Saxony. The so-called VW Act, which grants the state of Lower Saxony a say in site closures, could be "effectively circumvented."
Worker representatives immediately announced their opposition. "Attacks on the VW Act, co-determination rights and our sites are irresponsible threats," declared IG Metall chief Christiane Benner, VW Works Council chairwoman Daniela Cavallo and IG Metall's lead wage negotiator at VW, Thorsten Gröger, in a joint statement. "Should such plans be pushed forward, we would prevent them with all our strength."
There was also fierce criticism of Blume and the Volkswagen Group from the political sphere. "This is the easiest way for management to cut costs," said SPD politician Adis Ahmetovic on RTL and ntv. "The planned job cuts at VW are an absolute disgrace," declared Linke party leader Ines Schwerdtner. "Around 100,000 employees are supposed to go, while the management around Oliver Blume pays itself salaries and bonuses worth millions."
CDU politician Sepp Müller described the planned mass job cuts as "extremely bitter." "In recent years, such management mistakes were made that one now has to turn things around on a massive scale," he told RTL and ntv. From a business perspective, however, he said he could understand the decision.
For AfD federal spokesperson Alice Weidel, Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) and the black-red coalition bear responsibility. The job losses are "further evidence of the government's failure in economic policy," she said.
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