Around 20 000 VW workers agree to buyout amid overhaul

Around 20 000 Volkswagen workers in Germany have so far agreed to take voluntary redundancy as part of a major overhaul aimed at cutting costs, the struggling auto titan said Tuesday.

Europe's biggest carmaker, hit by fierce competition in key market China and a stuttering shift to electric vehicles, struck a deal with unions last year for massive job cuts in its home market.

About 20 000 workers had so far accepted redundancy offers, out of a total of 35 000 due to be shed by 2030 under the agreement, the 10-brand group said.

The jobs are being cut at the carmaker's core Volkswagen brand, and amount to about 30% of its workforce in Germany.

"We are on track," VW board member Gunnar Kilian said at a meeting with staff at the company's historic headquarters in Wolfsburg, western Germany.

He said the "socially responsible" job cuts as well as reductions in factory costs added up to "measurable progress".

Volkswagen, whose brands also include Audi, Skoda and Porsche, dropped a bombshell last year when it said it was mulling closing factories in Germany for the first time in its history.

But after months of talks with unions and a series of walkouts, it decided against shuttering any plants, instead striking the agreement to cut jobs through voluntary redundancies.

AFP