The crisis at Volkswagen is not sparing its premium subsidiaries either. Sports car maker Porsche announced on Monday that it will cut 5,000 jobs, while Audi lowered its revenue forecast for the current year. Like the group's core brand, VW's subsidiaries are suffering from a collapsing China business and heavy burdens from the tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump.
Porsche announced a "socially responsible" reduction in staff through 2035. The sports car manufacturer's sales fell sharply in the first half of the year, dropping by around 16 percent to roughly 122,000 cars. In China, sales plunged by a third, while North America saw a 13 percent decline. In its home market of Germany, the company delivered just under 15,000 cars, six percent fewer than in the same period last year.
The "future package," negotiated with the General Works Council and the IG Metall union, is intended to "significantly" reduce personnel costs, Porsche said. In return, the executive board pledged investments totaling 2.1 billion euros in the Zuffenhausen and Weissach sites near Stuttgart. The shared goal, the company said, is "to strengthen the sports car manufacturer's competitiveness while securing as many jobs as possible in the long term."
According to the company, the 5,000 positions are to be eliminated through natural attrition, partial retirement, and voluntary severance agreements. At the same time, the company guaranteed the continuation of its sites and ruled out compulsory redundancies through 2035. Porsche had already announced 3,900 job cuts in 2025. Before that, the company employed just over 42,000 people.
"The future package is good for Porsche," said Porsche CEO Michael Leiters. "It gives us the opportunity to strategically realign our company and invest in our competitiveness." He added that job security for employees would only exist "if we achieve our goals and are economically successful."
The chairman of the General Works Council, Ibrahim Aslan, described the deal as a "hard-fought" package. "We were able to convince the employer side that investing in Porsche at the Zuffenhausen and Weissach sites is an opportunity, and that this will also secure jobs significantly for another five years." He said the burdens would be shared across all shoulders.
VW subsidiary Audi, based in Ingolstadt, lowered its revenue forecast for 2026 on Monday by five billion euros, now expecting between 58 and 63 billion euros. "Geopolitical uncertainties, US tariffs and intense competition, particularly in China, shaped business developments," the company said. In the first half of the year, Audi recorded total revenue of just over 29 billion euros, down 10.4 percent from the same period last year.
Audi's chief financial officer, Jürgen Rittersberger, signaled further cost-cutting measures ahead. "The results of the first half of the year show that the measures already introduced, such as strict cost discipline, are working. But they are not enough," he said. "To remain competitive internationally, we must realign our business model together with the Volkswagen Group and implement far-reaching structural improvements."
Audi is also affected by the cost-cutting measures being considered at VW. Among the options under discussion is the closure of Audi's plant in Neckarsulm. According to a Monday report by "Handelsblatt," a further reduction in the site's annual production capacity, from the current 225,000 to 150,000 units, is now being examined. Production at the company's main Ingolstadt site could also be further reduced, the report said.
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