Automotive News Europe — 2026-09-03
Automotive Industry
Volkswagen Group’s supervisory board backed a sweeping overhaul that calls for 50,000 additional job cuts, far fewer models and a smaller industrial footprint, giving CEO Oliver Blume his clearest mandate yet to remake the automaker, whose brands include Audi, Bentley, Porsche and Skoda.
VW did not provide details on the timing of the workforce reduction or how the cuts would be distributed across its brands and regions, but the company did say they would include management positions.
VW said the board unanimously approved Blume’s restructuring plan to improve efficiency and enhance competitiveness, backing an overhaul after months of resistance from unions.
The board approved the so-called Future Plan 2030 at a meeting in Wolfsburg, VW said in a statement on Sept. 3.
The plan calls for another 50,000 job cuts, bringing its total workforce reduction expectations to 100,000. The 50,000 additional cuts represents about 8 percent of VW’s global employees as of the end of last year.
VW said it will slim its holdings and reduce its model lineup by about 50 percent by 2035.
“The portfolio of shareholdings and businesses will be rigorously assessed to retain only those with a clear strategic and financial contribution to the core business,” VW said in the statement. “Non-strategic activities will be divested or realigned. The real estate portfolio will also be reviewed.”
The agreement stops short of immediately closing factories.
VW acknowledged about 500,000 vehicles of excess annual capacity in Europe and said Emden, Hanover, Neckarsulm and Zwickau currently lack competitive follow-on production once existing models run out between 2031 and 2034. Alternative uses for these plants are being assessed, the company said.
Labor bosses say no plant was abandoned
The proposals had met fierce pushback from employee representatives and the state of Lower Saxony, which holds 20 percent of VW’s voting rights and two supervisory-board seats.
Labor leaders Christiane Benner and Daniela Cavallo said they had “prevented a dangerous escalation of the conflict,” adding that no plant had been abandoned and a proposed separation of the VW passenger-car brand and components business was off the table.
VW’s works council, which represents the company’s employees, sought to temper the potential for job losses, saying the 50,000 figure is a planning assumption derived from the company’s target to achieve a 9 percent margin by 2030 rather than a fixed headcount goal.
That distinction reflects the broader compromise behind the unanimous board vote, reached a day earlier than initially expected after weeks of increasingly bitter rhetoric.
Labor representatives had accepted that VW needed further cost reductions. But they fiercely opposed plant closures, moves to weaken co-determination — Germany’s system of worker representation in corporate decisions — and plans to separate parts of the core VW business.
A spokesman for the labor group said that compulsory layoffs at VW remain ruled out through the end of 2030 under existing agreements.
The Porsche-Piëch family, which controls a majority of VW’s voting rights through Porsche SE, has pushed for faster action as returns and dividend flows come under pressure.
Blume has argued that VW can no longer afford to carry the same sprawling cost base and industrial footprint while funding investments in electric vehicles, batteries and software.
The overhaul targets an operating margin of 9 percent by 2030 on annual sales of about 9 million vehicles. VW Group’s second-quarter margin was 4.2 percent.
VW also plans €135 billion of capital expenditure and research and development spending over 2027 through 2031, the company said.