Volkswagen Group Plans to Cut 50,000 Jobs

On March 10, Volkswagen Group, the German automaker, released its financial report for 2025. The data shows that the Group's total revenue for the year 2025 amounted to €321.913 billion, a slight year-over-year decline of 0.8%; operating profit was €8.868 billion, down 53.5% year-over-year; and the operating return on sales fell from 5.9% to 2.8%.

Regarding the reasons for the decline in performance, Volkswagen Group stated that it is mainly due to the U.S. tariff policies, changes in the Chinese market environment, plus the impact of slower than expected electrification progress and related one-time special factors.

In terms of sales, data shows that Volkswagen Group’s global sales volume for 2025 totaled 9.0274 million units, a 2.3% year-on-year decline; its battery electric vehicle (BEV) sales reached 744,800 units, down 3.4% year-on-year. By brand: Volkswagen Passenger Cars sold 4.7969 million units, down 1.4% year-on-year; Škoda sold 926,600 units, up 6.9% year-on-year; SEAT/CUPRA sold 558,200 units, up 7.5% year-on-year; Audi sold 1.6712 million units, down 11.8% year-on-year; Bentley sold 1,060 units, down 21.5% year-on-year; Porsche sold 310,700 units, down 3.0% year-on-year; and Lamborghini sold 10,700 units, up 5.7% year-on-year. Overall, Volkswagen Group’s core passenger car brands achieved growth in 2025, particularly Škoda, which posted a 13.7% year-on-year increase, whereas its premium brands generally experienced declines, with Audi and Bentley both registering double-digit year-on-year decreases.

In the annual report letter to shareholders, Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume stated: "By 2030, the group will cut a total of about 50,000 jobs in Germany." Blume pointed out that the additional layoffs will come from the car brands Audi and Porsche, as well as the group's software subsidiary Cariad, an increase from the previously announced 35,000 layoffs. Volkswagen Group had planned to cut 35,000 jobs by the end of 2024, mainly involving the Volkswagen brand, in an agreement with the labor union. The group stated that due to collective bargaining agreements and layoff measures, it achieved approximately 1 billion euros in cost savings as planned for the 2025 fiscal year, and the group is on track to achieve its goal of over 6 billion euros in annual net cost savings by 2030.

For the 2026 sales forecast, the Volkswagen Group expects sales revenue to grow within the 0% to 3% range; the group's sales operating return is expected to be in the 4.0% to 5.5% range.