We have been reading about VW group’s difficulties since late summer 2024, and we have already had the chance to point out how it was a sign of short-sightedness to take it out on leather when the market challenges were (clearly) others. Recent press statements show how the German holding company is preparing a tear-and-blood cost-cutting plan. Porsche and Audi are preparing a total of 9,400 layoffs.
Crisis for VW group
The reports on the two premium brands of the Volkswagen family are inclement. Porsche, which closed 2024 with about 40 billion euro in sales (already down from 40.5 in 2023) is in danger of closing the current year at 39. That’s why it’s entering an 800 million euro reorganization plan that will bring 3,900 layoffs: 2,000 already announced last fall, and another 1,900 disclosed a few weeks ago.
German car-makers are under pressure from Chinese competition and now grappling with the global supply chain shakeup wanted by Donald Trump. But the problems are not just Porsche’s. Audi, whose production workforce as of 2019 has reportedly already shrunk by 9,500 people, has announced it will cut 7,500 jobs by 2029. Why? To “make operations at the Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm plants faster, more productive and more flexible”, Motor1 reports, while €8 billion in investments will prepare the German plants for the technological challenges.
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