Volkswagen planning to cut up to 100.000 jobs globally • Hacker News Board

Re: Volkswagen planning to cut up to 100.000 jobs globally

#31

Post by throwaway270925 » Mon, Jul 13, 2026, 9:55 PM UTC

TacticalCoder wrote: post #5

shaism wrote: post #4

It is unfortunate for the employees but it is necessary, and hopefully also a wake up call for other German companies and the government. It’s time for leaner structures, smaller teams, faster decisions, and shorter development cycles. Volkswagen, like no other company, symbolizes the lethargy of the German economy and business environment. Hopefully, the seven years with barely any economic growth will end soon.

> Volkswagen, like no other company, symbolizes the lethargy of the German economy and business environment A car development cycle is/was seven years in Germany. And that was totally fine. When the "Golf 7" comes up, the "Golf 8" doesn't come out only 2 years after. What happened is the EU (and Germany in particular) left only two development cycles to the biggest industry in Germany (and hence the biggest industry…

> What happened is the EU (and Germany in particular) left only two development cycles to the biggest industry in Germany (and hence the biggest industry in Europe) to entirely change.

Thats of course complete BS, the change to EVs (and more economical ICEs and Hybrids in between) could be seen decades away! And VW knew it, they just chose to ignore it and continue down the easy (lazy) path.

There is nobody to blame other than VW management, the Piechs and Porsches in particular.

Re: Volkswagen planning to cut up to 100.000 jobs globally

#32

Post by alephnerd » Mon, Jul 13, 2026, 10:00 PM UTC

jshier wrote: post #27

alephnerd wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> because Moody's making politics and reduced VWs rating... > without actually being a concrete automotive related issue in the first place... VW's market share in China (it's largest market) has collapsed - in 20 years it went from around 20% of all cars in China to 10% and current deliveries this year in China have fallen by 36%. This is a huge fall for a company whose Jetta was literally China's Model T. VW Group…

Wasn't the China collapse entirely predictable based on the rise of China's domestic auto industry? Why would anyone buy a Jetta when you can get a BYD?

The BYD EV boom only began in earnest in 2020 when the Han EV was released and the NEV was clubbed with local level subsidizes.

The pieces were there but didn't catalyze until then.

Re: Volkswagen planning to cut up to 100.000 jobs globally

#33

Post by jacooper » Mon, Jul 13, 2026, 10:06 PM UTC

alephnerd wrote: post #11

verdverm wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are switching some lines to building military vehicles aiui

> switching some lines to building military It got vetoed by Qatar (their SWF owns 17% of all voting shares in Volkswagen) because that would have meant working with Israeli companies [0] despite Germany being dependent on the Israeli Arrow system [1] to counter Russian systems. Now that factory (Osnabrueck) is one of the factories on the chopping block. And this is why Volkswagen is going to be a slow moving train c…

Bohoo, can't build weapons for genociders, poor me!

What a shitty management that can't find any solutions other than building weapons for war criminals.

Re: Volkswagen planning to cut up to 100.000 jobs globally

#34

Post by alephnerd » Mon, Jul 13, 2026, 10:18 PM UTC

toomuchtodo wrote: post #29

alephnerd wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> CATL Battery technology and chemistry is export controlled by China [0], which has hurt European attempts at doing what you mentioned [1]. > Panasonic They have chosen to concentrate on America instead [2] [0] - https://www.mayerbrown.com/en/insights/publications/2025/10/... [1] - https://merics.org/en/comment/chinese-restrictions-threaten-... [2] - https://www.reuters.com/technology/panasonic-localise-its-us...

CATL is building one of the largest battery manufacturing facilities in Europe in Spain. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinas-catl-breaks-groun... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46061492 (“CATL's Spain plant will likely be one of Europe's largest LFP battery production hubs at ~50GWh of production capacity, employing ~4k workers with an investment of ~€4.1B.”)

China views Spain as a better strategic partner [0] than Germany.

China and Spain signed a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2021 [1] and Spain is lobbying on behalf of China against the "Made in EU" act [2].

On the other hand, Germany is backing EU quotas and origination requirements to push back against Chinese overproduction [3].

Of course, China and Germany have fallen out due to Ukraine [4] as well as China's negative perception about the EU as an institution [5].

[0] - https://cn.chinadiplomacy.org.cn/2026-06/19/content_11855853...

[1] - https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/gjhdq_665435/3265_665445/3356_6...

[2] - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-04-16/china-lob...

[3] - https://www.ft.com/content/06b7fe04-25f7-445b-824a-135ae7359...

[4] - https://www.reuters.com/world/china/germany-closer-us-than-c...

[5] - https://fddi.fudan.edu.cn/_t2515/57/f8/c21257a743416/page.ht...

Re: Volkswagen planning to cut up to 100.000 jobs globally

#35

Post by breve » Mon, Jul 13, 2026, 10:36 PM UTC

tangenter wrote: post #6

VW is a massive casualty, but the future of automotive is currently a cutthroat war between BYD and Tesla. Everyone else is, at best, a second tier competitor. Auto industry/dealerships for trad cars is not looking good.

BYD sells EV and hybrid vehicles. Tesla only sells EVs, and BYD sells more EVs than Tesla.

In 2025 BYD sold 4.6 million vehicles. Tesla sold 1.66 million. That particular war is already over. Tesla lost it.

Toyota has been the best selling automaker for the last 6 years straight. In 2025 Toyota had record sales with 11.3 million vehicles sold: https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/toyota...

BYD was 6th: https://carnewschina.com/2026/02/26/three-chinese-automakers...

Tesla isn't in the top ten.

Re: Volkswagen planning to cut up to 100.000 jobs globally

#36

Post by a34729t » Mon, Jul 13, 2026, 10:40 PM UTC

12958715 wrote: post #10

People have no money for cars. Maybe boomers whose health insurance you subsidize and whose overpriced apartments you rent can still afford one. Everyone else struggles with health insurance up more than 100% in 10 years, Döner up 100% in 6 years, electricity costs etc. But we feel good about the "rules based international order", which only the EU follows right now, dictated by public servants with inflation-indexed…

Americans and Chinese have money for cars. Europeans, less so.

Re: Volkswagen planning to cut up to 100.000 jobs globally

#37

Post by OKRainbowKid » Mon, Jul 13, 2026, 10:43 PM UTC

fnordian_slip wrote: post #20

mk89 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

EU didn't close nuclear plants, not sure what you're talking about. This is a choice some countries did in the past due to Chernobyl and Fukushima. The "fatality" was performed successfully by the Greens.

Why does this obvious falsehood get repeated so much on hn Everyone can look up what the CDU did, it's not like they did it in secret. It's bad enough that nuclear proponents ignore the massive cost of nuclear compared to renewables once you factor in building costs, insurance and storage imho. But then to pretend like the conservatives didn't have a choice but to bungle the nuclear exit really is too much. The CDU n…

Yeah it's crazy, in every post about Germany inevitably the nuclear phase out will get brought up and the comments/discussions always seem like a shit show of misinformation to me. And it's always how nuclear is being phased out in favor of coal and gas and that's why energy is expensive, industry is dying, and the Greens and or EU are to blame for all of it. It's tiring, really, and I have the impression that these posters are not acting in good faith, but posting to reproduce a narrative.

Re: Volkswagen planning to cut up to 100.000 jobs globally

#38

Post by 121789 » Mon, Jul 13, 2026, 10:52 PM UTC

TacticalCoder wrote: post #5

shaism wrote: post #4

It is unfortunate for the employees but it is necessary, and hopefully also a wake up call for other German companies and the government. It’s time for leaner structures, smaller teams, faster decisions, and shorter development cycles. Volkswagen, like no other company, symbolizes the lethargy of the German economy and business environment. Hopefully, the seven years with barely any economic growth will end soon.

> Volkswagen, like no other company, symbolizes the lethargy of the German economy and business environment A car development cycle is/was seven years in Germany. And that was totally fine. When the "Golf 7" comes up, the "Golf 8" doesn't come out only 2 years after. What happened is the EU (and Germany in particular) left only two development cycles to the biggest industry in Germany (and hence the biggest industry…

your misrepresentation of the timeline makes your comment meaningless. Germany has been winding down nuclear reactors for 20 years.

the only actual story here is that the market trend (both tesla in the US and all chinese EVs) pointed towards EVs being the future and German/Japanese brands have not been willing to give up their cash cows to EVs. The brand value will remain (e.g. germany MIGHT be ok), but the value and reliability differentiators will disappear.

Re: Volkswagen planning to cut up to 100.000 jobs globally

#39

Post by wolvoleo » Mon, Jul 13, 2026, 10:54 PM UTC

TacticalCoder wrote: post #5

shaism wrote: post #4

It is unfortunate for the employees but it is necessary, and hopefully also a wake up call for other German companies and the government. It’s time for leaner structures, smaller teams, faster decisions, and shorter development cycles. Volkswagen, like no other company, symbolizes the lethargy of the German economy and business environment. Hopefully, the seven years with barely any economic growth will end soon.

> Volkswagen, like no other company, symbolizes the lethargy of the German economy and business environment A car development cycle is/was seven years in Germany. And that was totally fine. When the "Golf 7" comes up, the "Golf 8" doesn't come out only 2 years after. What happened is the EU (and Germany in particular) left only two development cycles to the biggest industry in Germany (and hence the biggest industry…

For Europe to meet its climate goals that was necessary. And BYD seems to have no issues shifting. Why should VW?

Though I do see another option emerging: people just not buying cars at all. More and more friends are relying on public transit alone. That's an even better option for the environment and climate of course.

For the economy it's not so good but it'll have to cope. If people don't buy cars it means they'll have lots more money to spend on other things anyway.

Re: Volkswagen planning to cut up to 100.000 jobs globally

#40

Post by huntoa » Mon, Jul 13, 2026, 10:56 PM UTC

I think with the advent of cheap Chinese electric cars (new BYD for 7-9k€ in China) VW will die a slow death, slowed down by tariffs, tax-paid stimulation programs and bailouts from Germany. They can't compete on price or quality.

I hate that tax money is wasted for this garbage company. Germany and the ECB has been financing VW group by buying their bonds. VW group has hundreds of billions of debt. German Central Bank president recently said (translated): "[It is] currently in the midst of a restructuring process. However, I also see opportunities — for instance, in the defense industry."

Profit margin Volkswagen: 2.21% Profit Margin Toyota: 7.59%

When I compared ICE compact cars some years ago, the Audi A1 (Volkswagen Group) was the only German contender with respect to quality, repair costs, failure statistics, etc. But it lost out to a Toyota, because the Audi was more expensive.

Michael Burry's march BYD analysis was interesting. It said this (and much more): "BYD is potentially the lowest-cost producer of vehicles in the world thanks to its vertically integrated model at scale. BYD controls its supply chains and saves margin at every step. It makes its chips, batteries, bodies, motors, etc. [...] Factories are being built in Thailand, Brazil, Hungary, and Turkey. Europe put a 17% tariff on BYD cars [...]. Once local production is in gear, the tariff will disappear - a major future competitive advantage in Europe given BYD’s low cost advantage. [...] massive overseas spend [...] BYD has ~29% more revenue than Tesla and ~1/12th the market cap."