VW may close four factories for future mergers, report says

The Volkswagen Group is considering what was previously impossible: to close up to four factories in Germany and to introduce layoffs that will reduce employees by 15 percent.

2025 was a bad year for Europe’s biggest automakers. Its sales were flat, but profits were flat, falling 44 percent to 6.9 billion euros ($7.9 billion) as operating margins more than halved. The red ink looks set to continue bleeding through 2026, and in March, the company announced it would cut 50,000 jobs in Germany by 2030 as part of a turnaround plan. Now, according to the report in Manager Magazine, that job loss can be doubled.

A mechanical engineer he did well EV sales in Europe last year, but sales in North America and China fell and continue to fall, and prices have had a big impact.

In April, VW Group CFO and COO Arno Arnitz told investors that the company’s operating costs are “very low” and that it needs to change its business model to reduce costs and increase efficiency without running out of control. This would require “significant reductions in complexity – in our products and technology platforms, and in the number of organizations and decision-making units,” Arnitz said.