Volkswagen plans to cut up to 100,000 jobs and shut four German plants in deepest-ever overhaul
CEO Oliver Blume’s new 2030 strategy would double previously announced job cuts and shutter production at Hanover, Zwickau, Emden and Audi’s Neckarsulm site, according to German business magazine Manager Magazin.
Ambitious restructuring plan
Volkswagen’s chief executive Oliver Blume is aiming to eliminate up to 100,000 positions worldwide, roughly 15% of the group’s workforce, Manager Magazin reported on Friday. The plan, which dwarfs a previously announced target of 50,000 job cuts, was discussed by the executive board on Wednesday and is set to be presented to the supervisory board on 9 July. Chief financial officer Arno Antlitz is backing the radical overhaul, which also foresees spinning off the core VW brand and its parts operations into separate entities. The company, which employed about 657,000 people globally at the end of 2025, is under pressure from Chinese competition, the costly shift to electric vehicles and trade tensions.
The entire group, including its brands and subsidiaries, must undergo far-reaching change.
Four plants on the chopping block
The internal proposal targets four German factories for closure in the medium term: VW plants in Hanover, Zwickau and Emden, plus the Audi site in Neckarsulm. Production would wind down as current vehicle models are phased out, according to the magazine. The measures are part of Blume’s ‘Group Target Picture 2030’ and aim to slash overall costs by €11 billion by 2030. The plan also envisages trimming planned investment by about 15% to just over €130 billion over the next five years.
Union and political pushback
The powerful IG Metall union and VW’s works council issued a joint statement on Friday warning they would fight any such measures.
The works council chair Daniela Cavallo, IG Metall chair Christiane Benner and regional director Thorsten Gröger described the reports as “irresponsible threats” to employees and plant regions. An employment protection agreement signed in 2024 rules out compulsory redundancies at German sites until at least 2030. The supervisory board, which is half worker representatives and holds a strong Lower Saxony state minority, may have the final say on 9 July.Should such plans go ahead, we would do everything in our power to prevent them.
Volkswagen’s struggling business model
Volkswagen, like other European legacy carmakers, is battling stagnating markets, rising energy costs and an influx of cheaper Chinese EVs. A spokesperson acknowledged that the traditional model of designing cars in Germany, producing them in Europe and exporting worldwide “no longer works”. Net profit fell 28% in the first quarter of 2026, and the group’s global workforce had already been subject to a pre-existing plan to cut 35,000 jobs at the core VW brand by 2030.
- Employment protection agreement with IG Metall signed; VW announces 50,000 job cuts by 2030.
- Volkswagen confirms plans to eliminate 50,000 jobs in Germany by 2030.
- Executive board discusses new 'Group Target Picture 2030' including 100,000 job cuts and plant closures.
- Manager Magazin reports the internal restructuring plan, revealing up to 100,000 job losses and four plant closures.
- Supervisory board scheduled to deliberate on the proposed restructuring plan.
