Volkswagen chief executive Herbert Diess has warned that the German car manufacturer could lose up to 30,000 jobs if its transition to electric vehicles is too slow.
Diess told a supervisory board meeting in September that competition from new entrants in the German market, such as Tesla, means the company needs to speed up its transition to electric vehicles. He noted that Tesla plans to produce 500,000 cars annually at its Berlin factory with 12,000 employees, while Volkswagen’s Wolfsburg plant builds 700,000 vehicles annually, albeit with 25,000 employees.
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Speaking to Reuters, Volkswagen spokesperson Michael Manske confirmed that the automaker is indeed facing fierce competition and needs to respond.
“There is no question that we have to address the competitiveness of our plant in Wolfsburg in view of new market entrants,” he said. “Tesla is setting new standards for productivity and scale in Grunheide,” the site of Tesla’s Berlin Gigafactory. “A debate is now underway and there are already many good ideas. There are no concrete scenarios.”
A spokesperson for Volkswagen’s workers’ council wouldn’t comment on Diess’s comments, but said that “a reduction of 30,000 jobs is absurd and baseless.”
Volkswagen’s Wolfsburg plant houses over 50,000 employees but doesn’t produce any EVs. This will change from 2026 when the site begins to manufacturer a flagship sedan currently known as Project Trinity. This car will have a bespoke architecture and feature more advanced powertrains and battery technologies than what VW is currently using. It will also be capable of Level 4 autonomous driving.
