A major reorganization could reshape Volkswagen\u2019s future, putting thousands of German jobs and several historic plants at risk.<\/p>\n
Berlin, June 26 \u2013 Volkswagen is weighing the possibility of closing four plants in Germany and a large-scale reduction of the workforce to around 100,000 employees, two people familiar with the situation said. This could be the biggest transformation in the company\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
The plan was brought to the attention of supervisory board members, and its discussion is planned for the July 9 meeting amid growing pressure from Chinese competitors.<\/p>\n
The entire group, including brands and divisions, must undergo sweeping changes.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Volkswagen Works Council and IG Metall<\/p>\n
The closures of the Hanover, Zwickau, Emden and Audi\u2019s Neckarsulm site could threaten more than 45,000 jobs, sources said. This would add to the 50,000 cuts agreed with unions at the end of 2024.<\/p>\n
Oliver Blume, who has headed the company for almost four years, presented the plans to senior management this week, trying to rally management around deep cuts that are likely to meet resistance from unions and the state of Lower Saxony, where Volkswagen has its second-largest shareholder.<\/p>\n
The restructuring was first highlighted by Manager Magazin.<\/p>\n
The world No. 2 among automakers also plans to cut investments by about 15% and to exceed \u20ac130 billion over the next five years, the magazine reported.<\/p>\n
Blume and the chief financial officer Arno Antlitz intend to radically restructure the 89-year-old company, including separating the core VW brand and the auto-parts operations into separate entities, the magazine reports citing sources.<\/p>\n
Radical changes needed, VW says<\/p>\n
A Volkswagen spokesperson declined to comment on materials described as confidential.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe entire group, including brands and divisions, must undergo sweeping changes,\u201d the company said.<\/p>\n
If such plans take effect, we will do everything possible to prevent them.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Volkswagen Works Council and IG Metall<\/p>\n
Porsche SE, the investment arm of the Piech family and Volkswagen\u2019s largest shareholder, also declined to comment.<\/p>\n
In fiscal 2025, the group\u2019s global headcount stood at 667,164 employees, almost 43% of whom worked in Germany.<\/p>\n
VW shares were trading at a 16-year low on Friday morning, down 0.4% to 1024 GMT, signaling investor doubts about the plan\u2019s chances of success.<\/p>\n
STRONG PRESSURE FROM EMERGING CHINESE COMPETITORS<\/p>\n
Blume is under pressure to regain VW\u2019s position amid tariffs, the costly shift to electric vehicles and growing competition from Chinese automakers \u2013 perhaps the greatest threat to the company.<\/p>\n
In China, leading electric-vehicle manufacturers are strengthening their positions, and from 2025 the market share of non-Chinese manufacturers has fallen from 57% to 32% according to ACEA.<\/p>\n
After a long dominance in the Chinese market, Volkswagen ceded to BYD in 2024 and ended up third in 2025. This decline also affected other premium brands, notably BMW.<\/p>\n
Chinese manufacturers are expanding their presence in Europe, and BYD, Chery, SAIC and Leapmotor increased their combined share of the European market during January\u2013May compared with last year, and many other Chinese manufacturers plan to enter the European market soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A major reorganization could reshape Volkswagen\u2019s future, putting thousands of German jobs and several historic plants at risk.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43863,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20947],"tags":[37664,42,37665,37666,5356,32528,37663,37667],"class_list":["post-43862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-volkswagen","tag-chinese-ev-competition","tag-news","tag-oliver-blume-strategy","tag-plant-closures-germany","tag-volkswagen","tag-volkswagen-restructuring","tag-volkswagen-restructuring-plant-closures-germany-vw-job-cuts-oliver-blume-strategy-chinese-ev-competition","tag-vw-job-cuts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43862\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}