London —
Volkswagen, one of the world’s largest automakers, is reportedly planning to cut up to 100,000 jobs over the next few years, representing 15% of its global workforce.
The job cuts will be accompanied by the planned closure of four factories in Germany and a 15% cut in investment over the next five years, German business magazine Manager Magazin said in a report on Friday.
The report added that Volkswagen, Germany’s largest automaker and one of its major employers, plans to spin off its main Volkswagen brand and auto parts business into separate entities. The company owns several other brands, including Audi and Porsche.
A Volkswagen spokesman declined to comment to CNN about “internal, confidential documents.”
“The main issues will be discussed and approved in the relevant committees,” the representative added. “We will not preempt this process.”
VW employs almost 660,000 people worldwide and has already announced plans to cut 50,000 jobs in Germany by 2030.
The company has one U.S. assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, employing more than 4,000 people.
Like many European automakers, it faces pressure from new tariffs on exports to the United States and is also struggling to counter the rise of Chinese electric vehicle makers, including BYD.
A Volkswagen spokesman said the company needed “greater focus as well as stricter cost and investment discipline” to meet its new reality, adding that its traditional business model – making cars in Europe and exporting them worldwide – “no longer works” for all its brands.
Any job cuts are likely to be resisted by German unions. “If such plans move forward, we will prevent them with all our might,” the IG Metall union and the Volkswagen General Works Council said in a joint statement on Friday.
Volkswagen shares fell 1.5% in afternoon local time. Its shares have fallen by more than a quarter this year.