Volkswagen Announces Car Industry's Biggest Shakeup

Volkswagen is planning the car industry's biggest ever shake-up, with 100,000 jobs to disappear by 2030, DW reports. The cuts—about 15% of its global workforce—stem from a newly approved plan to eliminate an additional 50,000 positions on top of reductions already agreed, the automaker said Thursday. Management framed the move as necessary to bring staffing in line with "economic realities."

Unions, which had clashed with executives after details leaked to the media before the plan was announced internally, signed off on the plan but remain uneasy, especially as Volkswagen said it can no longer guarantee the long-term future of four major German plants. The company, squeezed by US tariffs, Chinese rivals, and weak EV demand, says it will pour a massive investment into research, streamline its structure, and shift focus toward North America and the Global South. The restructuring plan also aims to cut VW's number of model variants by about 75%, the Wall Street Journal reports. Per the Guardian, the automaker's brands include Porsche, Lamborghini, Skoda, Seat, and Cupra.