Volkswagen Warns Up to 140,000 Jobs Could Be Cut

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Volkswagen has warned staff that another 50,000 roles could soon go.

Around 100,000 jobs are thought to be at risk in the short term alone.

Factory closures could push the total toward 140,000 positions lost.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and that’s exactly what could be coming at the Volkswagen Group. Facing steep cost disadvantages against its rivals, VW chief executive Oliver Blume has suggested that as many as 140,000 jobs could be on the chopping block over the coming years.

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An internal memo Blume sent to staff earlier this month noted that, having already committed to cutting 50,000 jobs across the group, VW is now weighing another 50,000 for further cost-cutting. That comes despite the company earlier rejecting reports it was mulling up to 100,000 job losses .

Read: VW Offers Workers $35,000 To Move And Still Gets Booed

The bleeding may not stop there. Planned factory closures after 2030 put an additional 40,000 jobs at risk, and by Blume’s own math, VW is carrying a 20 percent cost disadvantage against its competitors. Several models are also thought to be in danger , including the VW Polo, Skoda Fabia and Kamiq, Audi Q5 Sportback, and a handful of Porsches, among them the Taycan, Panamera, and Cayenne Coupe.

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Blume’s Troubling Forecast

Oliver Blume/Porsche

“As of today, we still cannot confirm competitive use cases for the plants of Emden, Hanover, Zwickau and Neckarsulm in the 2030s,” Blume noted in the memo. Reuters reports the group could gradually halve its line-up of models to save costs.

“Of course, it’s understandable that not everything has been planned ⁠out down ​to the last detail yet, and that certain issues still ​need to be further discussed and evaluated,” Blume added. “There will certainly be more meetings in which we ​will work hard to find the best solutions.”

These meetings will start next month. Blume will first attend meetings with staff at the group’s Wolfsburg headquarters in Germany on August 25 before speaking with the works council and members at the Emden and Zwickau plants the following day.

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