Volkswagen's supervisory board unanimously approved a historic restructuring plan on Thursday, bringing job cuts within five years to a record total of 100,000 positions, making it possible to avoid, at least temporarily, a major clash with employees. The plan, called “Future Plan 2030”, provides for the elimination of around 50,000 additional positions worldwide by the end of the decade, in addition to the 50,000 already decided in Germany since 2024 mainly at VW. In total, the announced or planned job cuts would reach 100,000 jobs, or around 15% of the global workforce of the group with ten brands (VW, Audi, Porsche, Seat, Skoda, etc.). An operation of unprecedented scale for the group and the German automotive sector as a whole.
This announcement comes three days before a highly anticipated regional election in Saxony-Anhalt (east), where the far right could obtain an absolute majority and govern the Land, which would be a first in post-war Germany. A disaster scenario for conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who is already experiencing record unpopularity. To justify the job cuts, Volkswagen states that “in view of increasing global competitive pressure, changing demand structures and technological change in the automotive industry, a consistent adaptation of personnel capacities to economic reality is essential”.
The decision was announced after a meeting of the board's chairmanship committee, which preceded a plenary meeting of the Wolfsburg group's supervisory body scheduled for Friday. Employees and shareholders, who have the same weight, took note of the existence of a production overcapacity of 500,000 vehicles in Europe. It was found that “no competitive further production costs” could currently be guaranteed for four German factories, in Emden, Zwickau, Hannover and Neckarsulm, between 2031 and 2034.
For these threatened sites, however, Volkswagen has not taken the politically explosive step of closure. If these closures “have not been decided, they are not ruled out either,” commented Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, expert in the automotive sector. “Alternative possibilities of use are being examined,” indicates the group, which wants to develop a new industrial organization for its European factories by mid-2027. This prudence allowed the management board to obtain the support of employee representatives and to avoid an open social crisis after nearly two years of tense discussions. “We fought hard for good solutions in this crisis situation,” Christiane Benner, president of the IG Metall union and vice-president of the supervisory board, said in the statement.
Daniela Cavallo, president of the group's works council, welcomed a project intended to prepare the future of Volkswagen "without measures being taken unilaterally to the detriment of employees". Beyond reducing the workforce, the plan aims for an in-depth overhaul of the manufacturer. Volkswagen plans to halve its model range by 2035 and reduce the complexity of its offering by 75%. The group is also targeting an operating margin of 9% in 2030, compared to barely 3% in 2025, and plans 135 billion euros of investments in factories, research and development between 2027 and 2031.
Internationally, North American activities will be refocused on the most profitable segments, while in China, the group will adapt its strategy to a market whose growth is slowing and will strengthen its exports to the countries of the “Global South”. The group also plans to “simplify its governance”, while for decades, Volkswagen has been under the joint influence of politics and employees: the Land of Lower Saxony holds 20% of the capital and has a blocking minority on strategic decisions, while staff representatives benefit, via co-management, from a determining weight on the supervisory board, particularly on questions relating to industrial sites. This system, often criticized for its cumbersomeness and sometimes likened to that of a “state enterprise” by observers, has long limited the manufacturer's ability to carry out rapid restructuring. For Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, Volkswagen has above all obtained “a better compromise than the painful public discussions of the last 24 months”, a “ceasefire”.
