Volkswagen Future Plan 2030: workforce cuts, factory capacity and investment targets
Volkswagen has approved Future Plan 2030, targeting 50,000 workforce adjustments, a leaner model range and a new European production structure by June 2027.
Volkswagen has moved Future Plan 2030 from discussion to implementation: the Group Supervisory Board unanimously approved the program that management first presented on July 9. It calls for adjustments affecting around 50,000 positions worldwide, a roughly 50% reduction in the model portfolio and about a 75% reduction in offer complexity by 2035.
That does not mean 50,000 people will be dismissed at once. Volkswagen uses the term workforce adjustment for roughly 50,000 positions, including management roles, and the measure comes on top of programs already under way. Specific personnel measures still have to be negotiated at brand and division level with employee representatives where required. For scale, the Group employed 602,659 people at the end of 2025 excluding Chinese joint ventures.
The toughest production point concerns Europe. Volkswagen has officially acknowledged that its capacity here exceeds demand by more than 500,000 vehicles, while it cannot currently guarantee competitive utilization of the plants in Emden, Zwickau, Hanover and Neckarsulm for 2031–2034. Alternative scenarios are being examined for these sites, and the Group intends to define a new competitive European production structure by the end of June 2027.
The financial target is also concrete: with annual sales of around 9 million vehicles, the Group is aiming for a 9% operating return on sales by 2030, equivalent to roughly €31 billion in operating profit. Targeted capital expenditure and research and development spending for 2027–2031 totals €135 billion. At the same time, Volkswagen wants to reduce its portfolio of stakes and businesses by around one third.
The market treated the agreement as a reduction in uncertainty: after the compromise was announced, Volkswagen preferred shares gained around 3.4% in evening Tradegate trading compared with the Xetra close. The restructuring itself remains painful, however, and still does not provide a final answer on the future of the four plants.
The next checkpoint has already been set by the Group itself — the end of June 2027. By then Volkswagen is due to present a competitive production structure for Europe. That should make it clearer which plants will receive new models or functions and which sites will need alternative uses for their capacity.