Volkswagen’s CEO Confirms 100,000 Jobs Are on the Table

Volkswagen’s chief executive has confirmed for the first time that the carmaker may cut up to 100,000 jobs worldwide, twice its earlier target. Oliver Blume told staff in an internal memo that Europe’s biggest carmaker carries a 20% cost disadvantage against rivals. The admission lands after three straight years of falling profit and a stock price sitting at its lowest level in 16 years.

Analysts call the number a negotiating opener. The fight over which of four German plants survive remains unresolved.

Blume Puts the Number in Writing

Volkswagen chief executive Oliver Blume told employees Monday that a further 50,000 jobs could go, confirming for the first time that the total under review reaches 100,000 positions, according to an internal memo reported by AFP. The admission followed weeks of media reports that Blume had declined to confirm on the record.

Blume traced the shortfall to a 20% cost disadvantage against comparable competitors. This, the memo said, amounts to a “theoretical deduction” of another 50,000 jobs across the group’s worldwide operations.

He also would not guarantee the future of four German factories. “As of today, we still cannot confirm competitive use cases for the plants of Emden, Hanover, Zwickau and Neckarsulm in the 2030s,” he wrote.

Blume said he preferred intelligent solutions over closures, pointing again to defence production or shifting Chinese-market Volkswagen models into Europe as ways to keep the four sites running. “We are currently assessing across all brands, companies and regions how many adjustments are actually necessary and feasible,” he said.

Operating Profit Has Fallen for Three Straight Years

Volkswagen’s operating profit came to €22.6bn ($25.8bn) in 2023. It slipped to €19.1bn in 2024, then collapsed to €8.9bn last year, a 53% drop. The slide has continued into 2026: net profit fell 28% year on year in the first quarter, to €1.56bn, even as revenue held nearly flat at €75.7bn.

Finance chief Arno Antlitz has put the annual cost of US tariffs at roughly €5bn, with Audi and Porsche especially exposed because neither builds cars in the United States.

The pressure is piling up from several directions at once:

• China sales fell 26% in the first half of the year, in what was once Volkswagen’s most profitable market
• US sales dropped more than 7%, partly on higher import tariffs
• Global deliveries fell almost 9% in the April to June quarter alone, the company said
• Chinese brands are projected to hold 17% of the European market by 2031, according to the consultancy AlixPartners

Rivals feel it too. BMW issued a profit warning and expects to cut 5% of its workforce, while Mercedes-Benz has also reported falling profit tied to Chinese competition.

The productivity gap behind Blume’s cost figure is stark. Volkswagen employed about 663,000 people at the end of last year and sold roughly 13.6 vehicles per worker in 2025. Toyota needed just 390,927 employees to sell 11.3 million vehicles, about 28.9 per worker, more than twice Volkswagen’s rate, according to calculations reported by Axios.

The group has leaned on partnerships outside Western Europe to spread development costs, including a shared next-generation platform push tied to the Volkswagen and Mahindra vehicle collaboration in India, even as it cuts closer to home.

Which Four Plants Are Still in Limbo?

Four German factories, Emden, Hanover, Zwickau and Neckarsulm, remain without a confirmed future beyond the next decade. Together they employ more than 45,000 workers. Two of them, Zwickau and Emden, build Volkswagen’s electric models. Management has floated defence contracts or shifted Chinese-market production as alternatives to closure.

Der Spiegel has reported that vehicle production could be wound down at the four sites by the end of 2034 if the plan goes ahead, a decade-long runway even under the harshest scenario.

Workers Answer With Protests at a Dozen Sites

Germany’s IG Metall union staged protests at more than a dozen Volkswagen sites on July 9, the day the supervisory board met. Around 500 people rallied in Wolfsburg, the company’s headquarters city, while 250 to 300 gathered at Audi’s Ingolstadt plant and 250 Porsche workers protested in Zuffenhausen.

If these plans came to fruition, we would stop them with all our might.

IG Metall chairwoman Christiane Benner said that in a joint statement with works council chief Daniela Cavallo, days before the board meeting.

The union’s tone sharpened again after Monday’s memo. An IG Metall spokesman called it superficial, saying management’s communication remains a disaster across the board.

IG Metall official Thorsten Groeger put it more bluntly at the Wolfsburg rally. “We will not stand by and do nothing if the company does not change course,” he said.

Why the Final Count Could Land Lower

Industry analysts have told news agencies that Volkswagen appears to have deliberately publicised the 100,000 figure as a negotiating tactic, and that the eventual number of job losses is likely to land lower once talks conclude.

Volkswagen has form here. A 2024 deal with unions started as a standoff and ended with 35,000 job losses at the core Volkswagen brand and 15,000 more across other brands, all promised without compulsory redundancies through 2030.

If the group did cut 100,000 posts, it would be the largest restructuring in the global auto industry’s history, eclipsing General Motors’ reduction of nearly 50,000 jobs during its 2009 bankruptcy.

Analysts at the bank Jefferies were unconvinced by Volkswagen’s July 9 update, writing it offered “limited new information” and “no indication of progress” toward a deal on plant closures, investment or the headcount cut itself.

What the Supervisory Board Actually Approved

The board met for hours on July 9 but stopped short of approving a specific job-cut number. Reuters reported that labor representatives on the panel blocked the broader restructuring proposal that day, citing two people familiar with the matter.

What it did approve was narrower. The model lineup will be gradually cut by up to half over coming years, and production capacity will fall to nine million vehicles a year, down from a pre-pandemic goal of 12 million.

“With our future plan, we are moving into the next phase of transformation by our own means,” Blume said in a statement. “We are making the Volkswagen Group faster, more resilient and more competitive.”

Group investment is also being trimmed, by about 15% to just over €130bn over five years, and management is weighing whether to spin the core Volkswagen brand and its parts business into separate entities.

What we know:

• The total under review: up to 100,000 jobs, split between 50,000 already agreed and 50,000 more Blume calls theoretical.
• The cost gap: Blume has put it at 20% versus comparable rivals.
• The capacity plan: output capped at nine million vehicles a year, with the model range halved over time.

What remains unconfirmed:

• The final headcount: no number has been formally approved by the supervisory board.
• Plant closures: whether any of the four named sites actually shut, and when.
• The brand spin off: whether Volkswagen’s core brand and parts unit are ultimately separated.

Blume told workers the plan is still being worked out. “There will certainly be more meetings in which we will work hard to find the best solutions,” he said.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many jobs is Volkswagen planning to cut?

Volkswagen could cut as many as 100,000 jobs worldwide, chief executive Oliver Blume told staff, though he described the extra 50,000 beyond the 50,000 already agreed as a theoretical calculation assuming labor costs stay flat, since staff costs make up about half of the group’s overhead. No final number has been approved.

Which Volkswagen plants could close?

Four German factories are without a confirmed future: Emden, Hanover, Zwickau and Neckarsulm. Under the 2024 agreement with unions, Volkswagen promised no compulsory redundancies or forced plant closures in Germany only through the end of 2030, a pledge that expires just as the new plan would take hold.

Has Volkswagen already started cutting jobs?

Yes. At its June annual general meeting, Volkswagen disclosed that departure agreements covering more than 28,000 employees at Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche and software unit CARIAD had already been signed, counting toward the original 50,000 target for Germany by 2030.

Will Volkswagen actually cut all 100,000 jobs?

That is unresolved. Volkswagen’s supervisory board has 20 seats split evenly between shareholder and labor representatives, and labor members already blocked the broader restructuring proposal on July 9. Analysts view the 100,000 figure as an opening position in the negotiation still to come.