Volkswagen flags 50,000 more job cuts across car group
Volkswagen has reached a restructuring agreement that includes 50,000 additional job cuts, totaling 100,000 across the group. The automaker is struggling with falling sales in China and increased competition in Europe.
Why it matters
This massive restructuring reflects the broader crisis facing the European automotive industry due to global market shifts and electrification pressures.
Volkswagen shares hit an 11-week high after the supervisory board of Europe's largest automaker last night struck an ambitious turnaround agreement that put the focus on sweeping job cuts and averted a clash between major stakeholders.
The deal on the biggest restructuring in the group's 89-year history includes a further 50,000 job cuts, bringing the total agreed to 100,000, and leaves open the future of four of its German plants.
Volkswagen, like most of its European peers, is under pressure from painful tariffs in the US, falling sales in former cash cow China and aggressive Asian rivals entering the stagnant European market.
All these factors have gnawed at the group's operating margin, which stood at 3.8% in the first half, down from 7.9% in 2022, its peak over the past decade.
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