Volkswagen weighs deep global job cuts and possible plant closures amid EV and China pressures

FRANKFURT, June 26 — Europe’s largest carmaker Volkswagen is considering cutting tens of thousands more jobs worldwide and shuttering up to four plants in Germany, Manager Magazin reported Friday.

Volkswagen is already planning to cut 50,000 jobs across its brands in Germany by 2030 as it is struggling with high costs, US tariffs and fierce Chinese competition in electric vehicles.

A Volkswagen spokesman said that he could not comment on confidential matters but added that the company needed to become more competitive.

“The board has repeatedly emphasised that our current business model no longer works for all our brands in its current form,” he said.

“The entire group must significantly improve its competitiveness. This requires a sharper focus and even more rigorous cost and investment discipline.”

Citing unidentified company sources, Manager Magazin said the carmaker would cut investment by 15 per cent to just over €130 billion (RM606 billion) over the next five years.

Volkswagen would also close plants at Hanover, Zwickau and Emden after production runs of models currently made there end.

A plant at its sister brand Audi would also close, the magazine added.

Christiane Benner, head of the IG Metall union, said in a joint statement with Volkswagen’s works council chief Daniela Cavallo that employees would fight the cuts if they came.

“If these plans come to fruition we would stop them with all our might”, they said. “The board should get on with its job and focus on its core work: competitive products.”

Under agreements with unions, compulsory layoffs are supposed to be ruled out at Volkswagen until 2030 and at Audi until 2033.

VW plant closures in Germany are also supposed to be off the table until at least the end of the decade under an agreement reached at the end of 2024.

The group is under intense pressure after years of declining sales in China and slimmer profit margins from electric cars, even before US President Donald Trump raised tariffs last year.

Rival German carmaker BMW — a premium brand that had weathered the storm battering the industry better than VW or Mercedes-Benz — cut its outlook for the year earlier this month, saying it expected a “significant” drop in profits as a result of the Middle East war and weakness in China. — AFP