Europe’s largest automaker, Volkswagen, is to shed 50,000 jobs by the end of the decade, as it faces falling sales in China and North America and punitive US tariffs imposed by Donald Trump.
The 10-brand group, whose luxury subsidiaries Porsche and Audi are also under pressure, said the jobs would go in Germany, affecting the entire group, as part of a restructuring drive in light of the darkening global business climate.
The group had already struck a deal with German trade unions at the end of 2024 to slash 35,000 jobs by 2030, in part by natural attrition through retirement and other staff departures.
VW (and other EU car manufacturers) could and should have seen the EV market coming and instead they invested in covering up diesel emissions and lobbying the EU to postpone environmental policies. Dieselgate was a thing back in the day and VW was at the forefront.
I should have amended my first post by ‘lobbying’ instead of ‘demanding subsides’ though.