A LIDAR unit for autonomous driving is fitted to a VW ID. BUZZ electric van during a media day at Volkswagen AG’s commercial vehicles plant in Hanover, Germany, on Wednesday, March 4, 2026.
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German auto heavyweight Volkswagen is preparing to eliminate 100,000 positions and halt production at four plants in Germany in the years ahead, Manager Magazin reported, outlining what would amount to the most sweeping restructuring in the company’s 89-year history.
The proposal, published Friday, would cut about 15% of the workforce at Europe’s biggest automaker as Volkswagen works to fend off mounting pressure from fast-growing Chinese rivals.
Under the plan, the Wolfsburg-based group would also trim its planned company investment by roughly 15% to a little more than 130 billion euros ($148.2 billion) over the next five years, while ending production at sites in Hanover, Zwickau and Emden, as well as Audi’s Neckarsulm plant.
Volkswagen had previously signaled broad job reductions and rolled out an aggressive product push aimed at improving profitability.
Still, the numbers reported by Manager Magazin point to a much sharper pace of downsizing than earlier expectations, which had anticipated around 50,000 job cuts across Volkswagen’s German operations by 2030.
In late 2024, Volkswagen reached an agreement with unions to prevent plant closures in Germany and exclude forced layoffs through the end of 2030.
A spokesperson for the company declined to comment on “internal, confidential documents” when contacted by CNBC, saying decisions would be taken and approved by the relevant governing bodies, according to a Google translation.
“The entire Group—including its brands and subsidiaries—must undergo profound change,” the spokesperson said.
Shares of Volkswagen were last seen trading 0.2% lower on Friday. The stock price has fallen more than 25% year-to-date.
Volkswagen shares in the year-to-date.
Volkswagen’s General Works Council and German industrial union IG Metall pledged to push back against the reported job cuts and plant closures.
“If such plans were to be pushed forward, we would prevent them with all our might,” they said in a joint statement, according to a translation.
Volkswagen had a workforce of about 657,400 employees at the end of the first quarter of 2026, according to the company.
