Volkswagen’s Audi luxury brand has announced it will cut thousands of jobs over the next few years, in the latest sign of trouble in Germany’s auto sector.
The automaker said in a statement Monday that it would slash up to 7,500 jobs at its German sites by 2029 as part of a broader plan, agreed with employee representatives, to cut costs and help Audi transition its production to electric vehicles.
Audi said it expected the plan to save it €1 billion ($1.1 billion) over the medium term and that it would invest €8 billion ($8.8 billion) over the next five years in its German plants to help them manufacture EVs.
The company said “economic conditions are becoming increasingly tougher” and that “competitive pressure and political uncertainties are presenting the company with immense challenges.”
The job cuts represent about 8.6% of Audi’s global workforce, according to the automaker’s website.
The automaker said that the planned cuts were partly an attempt to reduce bureaucracy. It noted that it had “significantly reduced” the number of company committees in recent months and was trying to lessen employee workloads through digitization.
Audi’s job cuts add to the more than 35,000 already planned by its owner Volkswagen in Germany by the end of the decade.
Volkswagen has warned that it needs a radical overhaul as the group faces growing competition from Chinese EV makers and slowing sales. German automakers began transitioning their production to EVs later than Chinese rivals and now find themselves playing catch-up with companies such as BYD and Xpeng (XPEV).
US President Donald Trump’s threat to slap a 25% tariff onto cars imported into America from April 2 is another potential blow to Germany’s auto industry. If the import duties go ahead, German cars would likely become more expensive and so less attractive to US consumers than American-made equivalents.
Source: edition.cnn.com
