Volkswagen Group boss Oliver Blume has warned that he has “no choice and no time to waste” over the massive cuts he’s proposed for the company. 

He made the comments in an internal interview that was shared with company staff over the weekend and publicised this week.  

He blamed US trade tariffs, a tough economic environment in China and too much competition in Europe for the challenges being faced by Volkswagen, but said that the group of brands was facing the changes “from a position of strength”. 

Blume described his plan presented to the VW Group supervisory board as 12 initiatives and 45 individual resolutions in a 150-page document and said that despite the media reports the discussions “were very constructive and detailed. We are making good progress.”

He also said that there was broad support for his proposals within the board, but that there still needed to be discussion on the detail. According to Blume, “we have no choice and no time to waste in bringing the overall concept to fruition.”

The VW boss confirmed that plans included cutting model ranges by up to 50 percent, further concentration of platforms and software to reduce duplication and reduction in production capacity from 12 million to nine million.

The recent news has drastically overshadowed what should be the optimistic launches of the company's latest electric cars, with high-profile launches of the Cupra Raval, Skoda Epiq and Volkswagen ID.Polo.

Despite saying that the headcount of the company had grown to a point that was “unsustainable”, Blume reckoned planned job cuts of up to 120,000 weren’t correctly represented in the media. 

He noted that 27,000 people were set to leave the company before the end of 2026 primarily through early retirement and that more would leave as part of efforts to reduce numbers by 50,000 that were agreed in 2024. 

He said that further cuts were being looked at on a cost basis, rather than trying to achieve a numbers target, but that the cost savings he was looking for equate to around 50,000 further jobs, and that redundancies would be likely. 

Blume also confirmed that the company was looking at closing its Emden, Hanover, Zwickau, and Neckarsulm factories, warning that he couldn’t see them as competitive into the 2030s, as well as shifting its Osnabrück factory to a defence manufacturer. 

Electrifying.com founder Ginny Buckley said: "It's almost unthinkable that Volkswagen has ended up in this situation. In the last decade it has gone from the biggest car company in the world to the biggest corporate restructure in history, with its CEO threatening factory closures and wiping out half of the model range across the Volkswagen Group. Perhaps the company is finally feeling the effects of Dieselgate, but now it needs to fully invest in the tech of the future and focus on the quality and character that has always set it apart."

VW Group facility at Neckarsulm in the southwest of Germany currently builds Audis, but seems to be on the chopping block