Restructuring events
European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
Volkswagen Group, a German automotive giant, announced a global workforce adjustment of about 50,000 positions, about half of which will be cut in Germany. The reductions are targeted at indirect areas including management levels, where Volkswagen plans to cut around a quarter of management positions worldwide – from about 21,500 to 16,000.
The restructuring is part of the company's Future Plan 2030, aimed at reducing complexity, tightening costs, accelerating digital innovation and expanding future mobility platforms. With the operating margin at 3.8% in the first half of 2026 against a 9% target for 2030, Volkswagen aims to cut overhead costs by €11 billion – roughly half of which are personnel costs, from which the figure of around 50,000 positions is derived. Production capacity is being reduced by a further 500,000 units per year in both Europe and China, while capital expenditure and R&D are budgeted at €135 billion for 2027-2031, around 25% below previous planning.
Volkswagen's supervisory board approved the plan on 3 September 2026, two months after an earlier version had failed against opposition from employee representatives and the state of Lower Saxony. IG Metall and the Group Works Council said the agreement had prevented an escalation of the dispute, that a spin-off of the core VW passenger cars brand and components division was off the table, and that no plant had been given up – while stressing that management must now deliver on its responsibilities. The existing employment protection at Volkswagen AG and Volkswagen Sachsen, which rules out compulsory redundancies until the end of 2030, remains in force, and the detailed allocation of the cuts across brands and companies has yet to be negotiated with works councils.
Volkswagen also announced that for the four plants in Emden, Zwickau, Hannover and Neckarsulm, current planning cannot guarantee competitive follow-up production from 2031 to 2034, and that alternative uses for the sites are being examined. A concept for a sustainable and competitive European production structure is due by the end of June 2027.
In 2025, Volkswagen employed around 663,000 people worldwide, including approximately 284,000 in Germany.
In December 2024, Volkswagen announced a restructuring programme which included the loss of 35,000 jobs in Germany. This event has been recorded in the ERM events database: Volkswagen 2024 - DE.
Eurofound (2026), Volkswagen, Internal restructuring in Germany, factsheet number 300979, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/300979.
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