Key Takeaways
- Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume says total job cuts could reach 100,000 worldwide.
- The company already agreed to cut 50,000 positions by 2030.
- Four German plants have no confirmed future use past the 2030s.
Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume told staff the automaker’s Volkswagen Job Cuts could reach up to 100,000 jobs worldwide, doubling an earlier restructuring target as the company battles high costs and slowing sales.
A second round of cuts on top of existing plans
Volkswagen had already agreed to eliminate about 50,000 positions across its Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, and Cariad divisions in Germany by 2030. Blume’s internal memo confirmed for the first time that an additional 50,000 jobs could be cut on top of that figure, bringing the potential total to 100,000.
Blume said the company faces a cost disadvantage of roughly 20% compared with similar automakers in Europe. Since personnel costs make up about half of Volkswagen’s overhead, he described the additional 50,000 figure as a theoretical calculation showing the scale of the gap rather than a fixed target. He wrote that the company is still assessing how many adjustments are actually necessary across all brands and regions.
Chief Financial Officer Arno Antlitz has said Volkswagen’s projected profit margin for 2026, between 4% and 4.5%, is not sustainable over the long term. The company has pointed to competition from Chinese electric vehicle makers, US tariffs, and the costly shift to electric vehicles as key pressures on earnings. Blume also said the group plans to cut its five-year investment budget by about 15%, to just over €130 billion, alongside the wider Volkswagen Job Cuts program.
Four plants face an uncertain future
Blume’s memo also addressed months of speculation about possible factory closures. He wrote that the company still cannot confirm viable long-term use cases for plants in Emden, Hanover, Zwickau, and Neckarsulm heading into the 2030s.
Reports earlier this year suggested Volkswagen could end vehicle production at the Zwickau and Emden plants within five years, followed by the Hanover commercial vehicle plant in 2032 and Audi’s Neckarsulm plant in 2034. Blume has stopped short of confirming outright closures, saying he still favors what he calls “smarter solutions” over shutting plants down entirely.
The company’s Osnabrück plant, previously linked to possible production tied to Israel’s Iron Dome defense system, was notably absent from the list of four plants named in the memo. That omission has fueled speculation about the plant’s future role within the company’s broader restructuring plans.
Workers push back against the plan
The Volkswagen Job Cuts proposal has drawn strong criticism from labor representatives. Volkswagen works council chief Daniela Cavallo said Blume left tens of thousands of employees feeling unsettled by not addressing the scale of the cuts sooner.
More than 10,000 workers gathered at company headquarters in Wolfsburg in August, booing Blume during an address defending the plan. He told workers Volkswagen cannot sustain its future with a 3.8% operating margin given rising competition and tariff costs, and said management remained committed to carrying out the restructuring.
Around 37,000 signed agreements already cover part of the first phase of job reductions, which are set to unfold across the company’s German operations through 2030. Labor leaders have called for clearer plans for affected workers as the broader Volkswagen Job Cuts effort continues to take shape, warning that continued uncertainty could further damage morale across Volkswagen’s German plants.
