Volkswagen reportedly planning to axe 100,000 jobs
By Anna Cooban, CNN
London (CNN) — Volkswagen, one of the world’s largest automakers, is reportedly planning to axe as many as 100,000 jobs over the next few years, representing 15% of its global workforce.
The job cuts would come alongside the planned closure of four factories in Germany and a 15% reduction in investment over the next five years, according to a report Friday by Manager Magazin, a German business magazine.
The report added that Volkswagen – Germany’s biggest automaker and one of its major employers – is planning to spin off its main Volkswagen brand and auto parts business into separate entities. The company owns several other brands including Audi and Porsche.
A Volkswagen spokesperson declined to comment to CNN on “internal, confidential documents.”
“The underlying matters will be discussed and approved in the respective committees,” the spokesperson added. “We will not pre-empt this process.”
VW employs almost 660,000 people worldwide and had already announced plans to slash 50,000 jobs in Germany by 2030.
Like many European carmakers, it has been squeezed by fresh tariffs on its exports to the United States as well as struggling to counter the rise of Chinese electric vehicles manufacturers, including BYD.
The Volkswagen spokesperson said the company required “sharper focus as well as stricter discipline over costs and investment” to meet its new reality, adding that its traditional business model – making cars in Europe and exporting them globally – “no longer works” for all of its brands.
Any job cuts will likely meet resistance from German unions. “If such plans are pushed forward, we would prevent them with all our might,” labor union IG Metall and Volkswagen’s General Works Council said in a joint statement on Friday.
Shares of Volkswagen were down 1.5% early afternoon local time. Its stock has dropped by more than a quarter so far this year.
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CNN’s Robert North contributed reporting.
