By 2034, the Volkswagen Group will be able to close four factories in Germany, with around 140,000 jobs at risk. The difficulties in the manufacturer have been dragging on for some time, with the fall in sales and profits.
© Hendrik Schmidt/picture alliance via Getty Images
03/09/2026
by
News to Minutes
A through a delicate period, the Volkswagen Group is taking measures to restructure and curb costs – some more muscular than others. There could be thousands of jobs in question.
According to Engine 1. with, which quotes the WirtschaftsWoche, documents that will be presented to the supervisory board this week point to the closing of four factories in the next eight years: Emden and Zwickau in 2031, Hanover in 2032 and Neckarsulm in 2034 – associated with much of the group's electric range for the European market.
These dates are after 2030, year until which the company cannot make redundancies for operational reasons – as agreed in 2024 with the IG Metall union. The same understanding, however, foresees “the reduction of the socially responsible workforce of more than 35,000 people by 2030”.
In addition, in all there will be about 140,000 associated jobs the restructuring of the group. It is well known that the German conglomerate is preparing to extinguish 50,000 jobs, with rumors pointing to the need for another 50,000 to disappear.
Today, the Emden plant produces Volkswagen ID.4 and ID.7 for Europe, North America and China, while in Zwickau the ID.3, ID.4, ID.5, the Audi Q4 e-tron and the Cupra Born – beyond the Bentley Bentayga and Lamborghini Urus luxury models.
The Hanover factory focuses on commercial electrics, such as ID. Buzz (the modern “Bread of Form”). Neckarsulm is a factory delivered to Audi models and is also one of the largest employers in the Heilbronn-Franken region.
Having said that, it is far from guaranteed that the speculated measures will be implemented. They require the approval of a large majority of the supervisory board, where the State of Lower Saxony has 20 percent of the voting rights. The workers' representatives have half the seats in the body.
It should be noted that, also on the table, may be discontinuing the Seat mark by 2029, focusing Spanish efforts on the Cupra – the one that would be one of the biggest “earthquakes” in the European automotive industry in recent years.