By 2030, The Volkswagen Group Plans To Eliminate 50,000 Jobs

German auto giant Volkswagen Group is on track to cut 50,000 jobs by 2030, Chief Executive Officer Oliver Blume said at the company’s annual meeting on Thursday.

Blume told shareholders in an online meeting that the situation at Volkswagen was “tense and demanding”, saying conditions in the auto industry had worsened further in 2026.

“Our business model, which was successful for decades, no longer works today. We have to develop it further,” he said. The chief executive outlined key points for the automaker’s new 2030 strategy, which was announced in May.

Volkswagen’s goal is to become “the most attractive car manufacturer in the world” by the end of this decade, he said, with a sales return of between 8% and 10%.

New models like the recently introduced electric ID. Polo shows that the brand is on the right track and “back at the forefront of the competition”, Blume claims. “However, we are not making enough money from them,” he continued.

In the VW brand alone, 35,000 jobs will be cut by 2030. The workforce will already shrink by 19,000 by the end of 2026, Blume said, explaining that around 28,000 voluntary departures have already been agreed. Factory costs at VW’s German plants have fallen by more than 20% in 2025, he added.

Blume also confirmed his plans to further reduce factory capacity. By 2030, it wants to reduce the capacity of its European factories by an additional 500,000 vehicles – on top of an already ongoing reduction of one million vehicles by 2028. An equal number will decrease in China.

Although ongoing austerity programmes are already having an effect, cost cuts are being offset by new burdens from tariffs, trade barriers and geopolitical risks, he said.

The shareholders’ meeting is again being held entirely online, as it has been for the past two years. Blume last personally received shareholders in 2023.

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