Volkswagen Considers Major Job Cuts Amid Restructuring Efforts

Date:

Volkswagen is considering closing production facilities in Germany for the first time in its history as part of an intensified cost-cutting initiative. The automaker is contending with high manufacturing costs, weakening demand across Europe, and mounting competition from Chinese electric vehicle brands. Company leadership has also signaled potential plans to end a decades-old employment protection agreement that was set to run through 2029, prompting strong pushback from labor unions and employee representatives.

  • Volkswagen is exploring the closure of manufacturing and component facilities in Germany to reduce operating expenses.
  • The company may terminate a long-standing job security agreement that had protected German staff against layoffs until 2029.
  • Management attributes the measures to sluggish European vehicle demand, high production costs, and increasing competition from Chinese automakers.
  • Worker representatives and labor unions have voiced strong opposition, pledging to resist plant closures and compulsory redundancies.

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Deutsche Welle is Germany's public international broadcaster, delivering news, features, and documentaries across television, radio, and digital platforms in roughly 30 languages. Although it is funded by the German federal tax budget, DW is legally mandated to operate with strict editorial independence. Its primary mission is to convey a comprehensive picture of Germany, present independent perspectives on global events, and promote the understanding of democratic values internationally.

39 COMMENTS

  1. With VW you have a leadership that has no clear vision for the future, a company that missed the opportunity to take the lead in the next evolution of car manufacturing (software, batteries, etc) and a workforce that is too large for modern manufacturing processes (automation) and simply earns too much money for the profits the company makes (if any). And that gets you cars that feel out of date/uninspired and are plain too expensive. Nothing much you can do about that other than drastically shrink the company across all levels (including management), get back to basics and figure out how to regain the leadership position in the market. But just trying to wiggle your way through the current situation without making any absolutely drastic changes does not seem like it would be a winning strategy.

  2. I am sorry for the employees, it’s a horrible perspective to lose a decent paid job. Unfortunately this is business and this is the reality. The company was badly managed – first dieselschwindel ruined vw’s reputation, then the products became overpriced while quality fell, the high energy costs are a nail to the coffin.

  3. Here in Australia we shut down ALL the car factories in 2016. Ford, Toyota, Holden (GM) all shut within months of each other. Previously we had Nissan and Mitsubishi and they shut down in the 90's and 2000's. We hardly make anything anymore in Australia. We are pathetic. Sadly this has been coming to Europe for decades. VW, Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, etc, etc are all in trouble. All manufacturing in Europe is in trouble.

  4. Germany's (and many western countries, including the US) industry is now reaping the fruits of trusting China. They were lured with the promise of market access and ended up giving up their technological advantage, only to be run out of the market by cheap copies.

  5. Just look at the manufacturing methods in the video. It's no wonder they can't compete with the likes of Tesla or the Chinese, they are building cars like it's still 2010. The world has moved on – gigacasting, robotics, etc.

  6. The main reason is that support for the VVar has led to a rise in energy prices.
    But no one want to talk about it.

    Household electricity in China is roughly 81% cheaper than in Germany in nominal terms.

    Germany price: Average household electricity costs about €0.356 ($0.39) per kilowatt-hour.

    China price: Average household electricity costs about $0.067 (€0.061) per kilowatt-hour.

    The difference: German consumers pay more than 5 times (or roughly 530% of) what consumers in China pay for the same amount of electricity

  7. Unfortunately, German carmakers (and other industries) have lived in the past for far too long. My next car will most likely be a BYD. Don't judge me, lots of you buy Chinese made laptops, clothes, and phones, don't you?

    The BMW story of charging monthly for the luxury of heated seats put me off German automobiles forever.

  8. I have always driven German & VW cars but this year I decided to buy a brand new Toyota Corolla Hybrid 1.8 estate model. It is the best decision I have ever made the mpg is incredible and it costs me $60 to fill up. German cars are vastly overpriced and not as reliable anymore.

  9. For their lying about mileage in my country, good riddance. The banality of cheating for a living doesn't bother these Germans? I wish that way of life wasn't so common in the world of slaves serving unfaithful masters.

  10. Why do the Greman people and politicians let the EU leadership to destroy the European auto industry?
    Before the VW diesel scandal the major portion of the revenue of the car manufacturers came from ICE cars. Some from hybrids, PHEV-s (which was growing) and a microscopic part from BEV if the have BEV at all. It was microscopic because the price/value ratio of the BEV was extremely bad. Only rich enthusiast bought EV-s.
    After the scandal the EU leadership became a loose cannon and wanted to to force the car manufacturers to sell mainly BEV-s, but they did not care if there is a high demand with purchasing power in the market. They also did not care if the market can charge their car at home with normal tariff or they can charge their car anywhere else with acceptable tariff. They really did not care any aspect of their daydream.
    That daydream became a nightmare. They forced the car manufacturers the increase drastically the price of the ICE cars, the hybrids, PHEV-s to make the BEV are more palatable. They forced the car manufacturers to develop new EV platforms, not to mention of developing driving assistante features giving a very close deadline to them. The car manufacturers burned a tremendous amount of money to develop while their revenue is plummeted, becacuse the price/value ratio of the ICE and hybrid cars also became very bad. The 10k Euros entry level cars, became 20-25k Euros and the market stopped buying new cars.
    Is there a solution, any solution? I dont know but the first step should be to stop the CO2 tax of the cars and stop anything which artificially increasing the price of the ICE cars. If they need a cleaner air, they should target the very old Euro 3-4 cars, mainly the with diesel engine. Those cars should not be on the streets anymore. Lots of the measuring systems, equipments using in the MOT / PTI / TÜV is outdated in many EU country so they let the cars to the traffic with the worst emission with high CO2/CO/NO/PM. In lots of old cars the major parts of the exhaustion system is removed. The EU should focus on the real problem, the cars with high emission, not stopping the people to buy the much much cleaner cars with Euro 6 engine. If they want ban the diesel engine in the new passenger car segment, but not burning down a whole industry.
    Not China is the biggest threat of this industry, but the ignorant EU leadership and the ignorant german and french politicians.

  11. Fear not guys, it's all under control what matter is the green color, Brussels is jumping in contentment they will have what they're fighting for turning europe into a green region, doesn't matter if europeans go unenployed what matters is the graal of color.

  12. Here in Japan, we hesitated to invest heavily on EVs. This is because the infrastructure is not yet ready for EV and demands from AI data center is coming earlier.
    While demands for AI data center is fulfilled, automotive here would be replaced to eFuel/CH4/LH2 which the current infrastructure will be utilized.
    EV cannot replace heavy duty vehicles anyway so fuel will remain as the source of energy.

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