Volkswagen to axe up to 100,000 jobs in sweeping cost-cutting drive - Financial Times

Volkswagen to axe up to 100,000 jobs in sweeping cost-cutting drive

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Volkswagen to axe up to 100,000 jobs in sweeping cost-cutting drive

Restructuring would remove close to one in six workers and rank among biggest corporate lay-offs of all time

!Several Volkswagen ID.7 electric cars lined up inside the Volkswagen electric fleet plant in Emden, Germany.

*Volkswagen is one of Germany’s biggest private industrial employers and its job-cut targets have often been softened following negotiations with its unions

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Sebastien Ash in Frankfurt and Kana Inagaki in London

PublishedJune 26 2026

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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

Volkswagen plans to cut up to 100,000 jobs and end production at four plants in Germany in a significant acceleration of its cost-cutting plans as Europe’s largest carmaker seeks to counter the rapid advance of Chinese rivals.

The cull would mean the removal of close to one in six of the company’s roughly 625,000 roles worldwide, making it one of the biggest ever job-cutting programmes.

If completed, the cuts, which are likely to be subject to tough negotiations with unions, would surpass the 74,000 jobs eliminated by General Motors in a 1990s restructuring and the 60,000 removed by IBM in 1993.

Wolfsburg-based Volkswagen had already laid out plans to cut 50,000 jobs in Germany by the end of 2030 and has said it wants to reduce its car-manufacturing capacity in the country by 500,000 units.

The latest plan, first reported by German outlet Manager Magazin, could lead the headcount to be slashed by another 50,000, according to one person familiar with the plan.

Previous job-cut targets at VW — one of Germany’s biggest private industrial employers — have often been softened following negotiations with worker representatives.

The restructuring measures come on the heels of the blockbuster sale of its marine engines unit Everllence to US private equity firm Bain, which will generate proceeds of €7.4bn.

Chief executive Oliver Blume has sought to streamline the sprawling group to focus on its core automotive business and is expected to sell more assets to raise cash as the carmaker comes under pressure.

VW reached a landmark agreement with unions at the end of 2024 to cut jobs and capacity in Germany, but the auto manufacturer has said the impact of US tariffs, the conflict in the Middle East and a worsening situation in China necessitates more action.

Under the previous plan, the carmaker closed a small production site in the east German city of Dresden. It has been seeking a buyer for its factory in Osnabrück, where production is set to run out next year, and has held talks with the maker of Israel’s Iron Dome missile defence system.

The new proposals would see production end at another four plants: VW sites in Emden, Zwickau and Hanover, as well as an Audi factory in Neckarsulm.

Blume has previously said that closing factories outright was not his preferred solution, and that he was seeking “intelligent” approaches, such as producing Volkswagen’s Chinese models at the plants or handing them over to other carmakers or defence companies.

European car manufacturers have been hit by the rise of Chinese carmakers, which accounted for almos