Volkswagen Lays Off 20,000 in Race Against China: A Battle of Engines and Calculators

There’s clearly a shortage of tea in Wolfsburg, but no shortage of Chinese competitors. Deciding that the real fight for survival isn’t a race on the Nürburgring, but a round of layoffs at the factory, Volkswagen has announced a voluntary farewell to 20,000 of its workers. All so they don’t lose the battle to the creeping electric cars and calculating minds from the Middle Kingdom.

The reason is as simple as an old Lada manual: profits are falling, forecasts are bleak, and Chinese brands are advancing like a spring flood. In the first quarter of 2025, the company already lost 40% of its income. If things keep going this way, by 2030 the only one left at Volkswagen headquarters will be the security guard — and even he’ll be working remotely.

Still, the layoffs are “by mutual agreement”: either both sides equally disagree with working for less, or there’s only enough money for new Tiguans and Multivans after eight-seat teams are cut down to five. The voluntary exit program sounds like an old German joke: “Those who don’t leave on their own, leave on a coordinated schedule.”

Of course, this is all part of a large-scale restructuring strategy. Volkswagen is threatening all of Germany with cuts of up to 35,000 of its workers by 2030. German punctuality is on point here too — if you’re going to cut, do it down to the last person.

Meanwhile, as new factories are springing up in China and electric cars are rolling off the lines one after another, Volkswagen is trying to respond with the eight-seater Multivan and the most “dynamic” Tiguan ever — as if the more seats, the easier it is to fit a worried economist inside.

It seems the slogan “Das Auto” has been replaced with “Das Sparen.” The main thing is not to have to turn the German auto giant into a museum in the end. Though if it comes to that — there’s plenty of space now.