Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume warned in an internal memo that the automaker may need to cut an additional 50,000 jobs on top of the 50,000 already agreed, effectively confirming for the first time that the company is considering eliminating up to 100,000 positions in total.
The memo cited a 20% cost gap between Volkswagen and comparable rivals as the basis for the potential reductions. Blume wrote: "A theoretical calculation, assuming no change in labour costs, would result in around 50,000 job cuts worldwide." He noted that work is ongoing to evaluate, across every brand, subsidiary, and region, how extensive any such reductions would actually need to be.
The memo followed a supervisory board meeting last Thursday at which labor representatives blocked Blume's restructuring proposals, according to Reuters. The rejected plan was said to include job cuts and the possible closure of four factories. Four specific facilities — Emden, Hanover, Zwickau, and Neckarsulm — were singled out in the memo, with Blume stating that viable competitive uses for those plants in the 2030s could not currently be confirmed. Rather than committing to shutdowns, he expressed a preference for what he called "intelligent solutions," a category he has previously described as including contracts tied to defense manufacturing or bringing Chinese-market Volkswagen models into European production.
As executives gathered Thursday to deliberate on the cost-cutting proposals, IG Metall mobilized workers for demonstrations across Germany, Yahoo Finance reported, and the works council made its displeasure known publicly over the following weekend.
Volkswagen had been reported in late June as considering up to 100,000 total job cuts and the shutdown of four German factories, a scale that would represent the most sweeping restructuring in the automaker's history. A union agreement reached in late 2024 had already committed the company to eliminating around 50,000 positions by 2030, with departure agreements covering more than 28,000 employees across Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, and software unit CARIAD already signed as of the company's June annual general meeting.
Last Thursday, Volkswagen also outlined a restructuring plan that would cut its model lineup by as much as half and reduce global production capacity to 9 million vehicles per year, down from roughly 12 million before the pandemic. The company stopped short at that time of announcing specific job cuts or factory closures. Volkswagen stock has shed more than 30% of its value since the start of 2026.