Volkswagen is weighing what could be the most dramatic shake-up in its 89‑year history: up to 100,000 job cuts worldwide and the potential closure of four factories in Germany. Senior executives were briefed on the proposals this week, and the group’s supervisory board is set to hash them out on July 9.
What executives are proposing
German business magazine Manager Magazin first reported the overhaul. As summarized by Euronews, CEO Oliver Blume and CFO Arno Antlitz are said to be pushing a Group Target Picture 2030 plan that would spin off Volkswagen’s core brand and its parts operations into separate entities. Top management argues that carving up the sprawling group could simplify decision making and free up cash for priority models and markets.
Which plants are on the line
According to the reporting, production would eventually be wound down at Volkswagen sites in Hanover, Zwickau and Emden, along with Audi’s plant in Neckarsulm. Shutting those four locations would put more than 45,000 jobs at risk, based on internal estimates cited in coverage of the proposals as per Bloomberg Law.
Scale of the cuts and investment reductions
The package would more than double the workforce reductions Volkswagen had previously signaled and is reported to include trimming planned investment by roughly 15 percent, to just over €130 billion over the next five years. The group employed about 667,000 people in 2025, with close to 43 percent based in Germany, so any move of this size would hit a large slice of the company’s global staff according to Business Standard.
Union pushback and legal limits
Volkswagen’s works council and Germany’s powerful IG Metall union have already signaled that they will fight any plan that endangers existing sites and jobs. Labour leaders have been quoted as saying they will do everything in our power to prevent plant closures, a stance that echoes a December 2024 agreement designed to avoid compulsory redundancies and plant shutdowns through 2030, a commitment unions are expected to lean on in the coming talks, per The Local.
Why management says it must move
Blume has told investors and employees that Volkswagen is under increasing pressure from aggressively priced Chinese competitors, the heavy costs of the transition to electric vehicles and external headwinds such as tariffs. Industry briefs and market summaries say the proposed overhaul is meant to cut fixed costs, strip back the company’s tangled model lineup and make individual brands easier for investors to understand and value according to Finimize.
What’s next
The supervisory board is scheduled to formally discuss the package on July 9, and for now the measures remain internal proposals that could shift significantly after negotiations with works councils, unions and regional governments. Volkswagen has said it will not comment in detail on confidential internal papers ahead of those talks, while stakeholders prepare for what is expected to be a tense summer of bargaining. Early coverage of the emerging plan is available via Star‑Advertiser.
