DURBAN - Volkswagen will cut up to 7,000 positions, aim to boost productivity and deliver 5.9 billion euros of annual savings at its core VW brand by 2023, in its latest attempt to raise profitability at its top-selling division.
Volkswagen has struggled to raise profitability at the VW brand for years. Last year, the brand’s operating margin fell to 3.8 percent, lagging peers such as Peugeot which delivered a margin of 8.4 percent.Volkswagen has ruled out compulsory layoffs until 2025, but early retirement of staff working in administrative positions at the company’s headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany, will help reduce the workforce by 5,000 to 7,000, it said.
The company plans to become the world’s biggest producer of electric cars by 2025, with the VW brand alone aiming to build more than 20 models on the group’s electric vehicles platform.