VW, Europe’s largest automaker, recently announced its intention to close three German plants and initiate significant layoffs in a bid to cut costs in a toughening automotive market. This decision follows the termination of a labour agreement in September, which had protected workers from layoffs until 2029, now allowing business-related layoffs starting in mid-2025. This news also comes against the backdrop of VW scaling back its cell production plans.
Cost cutting strategy amid declining sales
VW is targeting the closure of three sites within Germany while scaling back operations across all remaining domestic factories, which could lead to thousands of job losses. Entire departments may either be shut down or relocated overseas. Charles Lester, data manager at Rho Motion, commented, “Since 2020, VW has sold the second most BEVs outside of China each year losing only to Tesla; however, this year they are behind last year’s performance.”
Rho Motion’s analysis shows that …
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