A major car firm is set to slash 100,000 jobs in a matter of months following reports it would cut 50,000. The doubling of jobs to be scrapped by Volkswagen comes as the company suffered a steep decline in profits over the course of 2025.

Chief executive Oliver Blume confirmed that not only would there be 100,000 job losses but that the Volkswagen Group’s operating cost is 20% higher compared to rival businesses. Reducing its outgoings even further after the job cuts is expected.

He said: “We are currently assessing across all brands, companies and regions how many adjustments are actually necessary and feasible. We need to become more efficient, more robust and simpler. We must reduce our costs.”

Blume added that the effect this would have on employees is understood by the board. He said: “I can fully understand how deeply the current situation affects people within the company, as well as everyone in its immediate circle. I have spent my entire professional life with the group.”

In 2023, the company made an operating profit of €22.6bn ($25.8bn, £19.3bn). This dropped to €19.1bn in 2024, and then to just €8.9bn last year. Sales are down in major markets including China and the United States, BBC News reported, with tariffs in the US and Chinese brand dominance cited as reasons for this decline.

In late 2024 VW reached an agreement with the German trade union IG Metall to cut 35,000 jobs at its namesake brand by 2030, in a “socially responsible manner”. Another 15,000 jobs to go at its other brands was also confirmed at the time.

Those plans appear to have been amplified by VW executives who confirmed 100,000 job losses globally.

Widespread protests were mounted earlier this week ahead of a VW supervisory board meeting which included company managers and labour representatives.

Industry analysts suggest that the group had publicised the number of 100,000 job cuts as a negotiating tactic and believe the actual job loss figure will be somewhat lower than this.

Blume added that “smart solutions are always better than closing a plant” as the company looks to avoid the full closure of four factories earmarked for closure. The four factories include Emden, Hanover, Zwickau, and the Audi plant Neckarsulm.

German car giant Volkswagen is planning a major restructure that could see up to 100,000 jobs axed globally in the coming years. Company executives are planning to reduce the workforce in a bid to drive efficiencies in a bid to save up to £9.5billion by 2030, according to local media.

The proposals will involve putting four car plants in Germany under review before ending production, Manager Magazin reported. The move would mark a significant milestone for the 89-year-old Wolfsburg-based car manufacturer, which owns a range of well known brands including Audi, Bentley, Skoda and Seat. It would also mean cost-cutting on a much greater scale than previously outlined, having said that 50,000 jobs were due to be cut by 2030 across the group in Germany.

At the time, chief executive Oliver Blume told shareholders that the company was on track to make savings of more than six billion euro (£5.2 billion) by 2030.

He has said that some 28,000 agreements for staff to leave by 2030 had already been made, which relates to those at the Germany headquarters,

“The transformation of the entire company is continuing to pick up speed,” the boss had said. With these programmes we are methodically addressing all cost categories across all brands.”

He also said the group was working to “address the reduction of overcapacities in our production network” by bringing down global targets from 12 million vehicles to nine million.

Matthias Schmidt, of Schmidt Automotive Research, said: “The VW Group has suffered from years of neglect in readjusting workforce numbers due to the stranglehold the regional government and trade unions have on the company. The market reality is hitting the German giant hardest.”

It comes after reporting that vehicle deliveries had dropped by 10% in the US and 8% in China in 2025.

It said this was because of “challenging market conditions” including tariffs on US imports and increased competition in China where big electric carmakers like BYD have been taking huge shares of the market.

Despite this, deliveries rose by 4.5% in Europe to almost four million vehicles.

Volkswagen reportedly has around 625,000 staff around the world, meaning its job-cutting plans would shed about 16% of the total workforce if they went ahead.

Reports said that details of the new plan were set to be presented to the company’s supervisory board on July 9.

A spokesperson for Volkswagen said the firm is not commenting on the speculation.