Volkswagen board approves savings plan with 50,000 more jobs at risk

Volkswagen’s supervisory board unanimously approved a savings and restructuring plan that will eliminate about 50,000 jobs across the group, including management positions. The decision came sooner than expected after a board committee meeting produced a compromise ahead of the full meeting scheduled for Friday.

Volkswagen said the plan would make the group and its brands more efficient, competitive and focused on the future. Management and the supervisory board described implementation as necessary to preserve the company’s competitiveness. The company has not yet explained how the job cuts will be carried out, and compulsory redundancies remain excluded until 2031.

The agreement also leaves four German plants without a confirmed future use. Volkswagen said the group faces European production overcapacity of 500,000 vehicles. It has not identified competitive follow-up production for Emden, Zwickau, Hanover and Neckarsulm from 2031 to 2034, and said it would examine alternative uses for the facilities.

The plan extends beyond Germany. Volkswagen is lowering its expectations for its business in China while expanding exports toward the global south, following the approach of Chinese automakers that already ship vehicles to countries such as India and Thailand.

Labor representatives highlighted what they described as gains from the agreement. IG Metall leader Christiane Benner and Volkswagen works council chief Daniela Cavallo said the deal prevented a “dangerous escalation” of the dispute. They said no plant had been abandoned, plans to spin off the Volkswagen passenger-car brand and component business had been dropped, and an attack on co-determination structures had been stopped. The full details of the cuts were not provided in the available text.

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dangerous escalation