Volkswagen's Radical Overhaul: Up to 100,000 Jobs and Four German Plants on the Line
27.06.2026 - 03:34:00 | boerse-global.de
Oliver Blume is preparing to take a cleaver to Volkswagen. The CEO's "Group Target Picture 2030" plan, presented to the board on June 24, envisions as many as 100,000 job cuts globally — roughly one in every six of the carmaker's 657,000 positions. That figure could double from earlier estimates, according to media reports, and the impact on the home market looks particularly brutal.
Four German sites are in the crosshairs. Hanover, Zwickau, Emden, and the Audi plant in Neckarsulm together employ around 40,000 people and have a production capacity of roughly 750,000 vehicles. The threat to those operations has ignited fierce resistance from IG Metall, works council chief Daniela Cavallo, and the state of Lower Saxony, which controls more than 20% of voting rights and has flatly rejected any plant closures.
The restructuring extends beyond the factory floor. Blume plans to slash capital expenditure over the next five years by about 15%, leaving a spending envelope of roughly €130 billion. The product lineup is also headed for a major trim: the current portfolio of around 150 models will be cut to fewer than 100, easing complexity costs in development and manufacturing. At the same time, the core Volkswagen brand and the components division are slated to be spun off into separate legal entities — a move that would reshape the group's legal structure.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Volkswagen?
Market participants have responded with a sell-first-ask-questions-later approach. On Friday, the stock shed nearly 4%, sinking to a fresh 52-week trough of €74.12, before closing slightly higher at €74.38. The year-to-date decline now stands at almost 30%. One glimmer of technical relief: the Relative Strength Index has fallen to 23.8, deep in oversold territory, though analysts caution that fundamental headwinds remain too severe to call a bottom.
European auto manufacturers are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Chinese competitors are muscling into markets with aggressive pricing, demand is softening, and the threat of US tariffs looms. Hedge funds, sensing structural weakness, have been piling into short positions against the sector. VW's own struggles with the shift to electrification only compound the pressure.
All eyes are now on the July 9 supervisory board meeting. That gathering will review Blume's proposals and could result in binding decisions on the scope of job cuts, the future of the four plants, and the timetable for the corporate spin-offs. Until then, the only certainty for investors is that the next chapter in Volkswagen's turnaround story will be written under the shadow of wrenching change.
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