VOLKSWAGEN TO CUT UP TO 100,000 JOBS

BERLIN, JULY 13 /SRNA/ - German automotive giant Volkswagen plans to cut up to 100,000 jobs.

The group, which includes Porsche, Audi, Seat and Škoda, as well as the Volkswagen brand, previously announced that it would eliminate around 50,000 jobs in Germany by 2030.

Volkswagen Group Chief Executive Officer Oliver Blume said that the Group’s costs are 20 percent higher compared with its competitors and that it will have to further reduce its spending.

“We are currently assessing across all brands, companies and regions how much adjustment is actually necessary and feasible. We have to become more efficient, more resilient and simpler. We have to reduce costs,” Blume said.

He added that the company “could not confirm” alternative uses for four factories in Germany that had previously been threatened with closure.

Volkswagen’s profit has fallen sharply in recent years. In 2023, it recorded an operating profit of 22.6 billion euros, which dropped to 19.1 billion euros a year later and then to just 8.9 billion euros last year.

The group has been severely affected by a decline in sales in China, once one of its most lucrative markets. In the United States, sales fell by more than seven percent, partly due to the impact of tariffs on car imports imposed by the US administration.