Volkswagen supervisory board approves turnaround plan cutting up to 60,000 jobs

Unanimous board approval

The Volkswagen AG supervisory board voted unanimously on Thursday evening to approve the executive board's restructuring program, known as Zukunftsplan 2030. The decision was reached during a meeting of the board's presidium in Wolfsburg, concluding weeks of internal negotiations over the automaker's financial structure. Company leaders stated that structural adjustments were needed to protect the organization's financial standing and long-term viability across all subsidiary brands. In an official communication released following the vote, corporate leadership emphasized the necessity of the overhaul.

The turnaround plan creates the prerequisites to make the Volkswagen Group and its brands more performant, more competitive, and more future-oriented.

Corporate leadership added that executing the package is mandatory to maintain competitiveness and secure the group on a sustainable footing. According to reporting from Bild, approximately 95% of the original executive rescue plan will be executed, with final technical adjustments scheduled to be finalized on Friday.

Workforce reductions and plant evaluations

The approved restructuring framework involves eliminating between 50,000 and 60,000 jobs across the global workforce if labor expenses cannot be lowered. In Europe, the carmaker must dismantle production overcapacity exceeding 500,000 vehicles to align factory output with falling regional demand. Four German manufacturing sites (Emden, Zwickau, Hannover, and Neckarsulm) face potential closure if operational expenses at those locations are not sharply reduced. Volkswagen confirmed that no competitive follow-up vehicle allocations can be guaranteed for those four facilities across a staggered window between 2031 and 2034. Management stated that alternative industrial uses for the four production sites are being examined in parallel.

Financial targets and capacity adjustments

Volkswagen expects global vehicle deliveries to fall to 9 million units per year by 2030, down from 11 million units delivered in 2019. At the lower volume of 9 million vehicles, the company faces an operating loss of 0.1% under its current cost structure. Management intends to raise the group's operating return on sales to 9% over the next four years through systematic cost reductions. The plan includes pruning the company's vehicle portfolio by up to 50% fewer distinct models. Total restructuring outlays are estimated at a minimum of 6.6 billion euros initially, potentially reaching 10 billion euros under worst-case operational scenarios, while investment and research budgets will be cut by approximately 50 billion euros.

Labor resistance and political compromise

The restructuring blueprint follows weeks of friction among management, the IG Metall trade union, and political leaders. An earlier version of the savings package failed to pass the supervisory board two months ago because of unified opposition from employee representatives and the state government of Lower Saxony. Employee representatives and trade union officials had voiced resistance against potential factory shutdowns and mass layoffs across domestic German production facilities. Thursday's unanimous vote allows the executive board to proceed with the core efficiency measures while working through the remaining implementation details.