Volkswagen Group approves plan to halve model range and cut 50,000 jobs
Volkswagen Group's supervisory board has approved a sweeping restructuring programme that will halve its model range by 2035, cut around 50,000 jobs, and retire the Seat brand by the end of the decade.
The Volkswagen Group has confirmed plans to halve its model range, cut around 50,000 jobs and potentially close four plants as part of the most extensive restructuring programme in its history. The measures form part of the German car maker's newly approved Future Plan 2030, which also calls for sweeping changes to its engineering and manufacturing operations and a major reduction in planned investment.
The plans, previously presented by the group's management, have now been unanimously approved by the VW Group Supervisory Board, the 20-member body that includes shareholders and union representatives. That approval has been a major challenge for the car maker given the union presence, but it now gives CEO Oliver Blume the go-ahead for a restructuring programme aimed at making Europe's largest car maker considerably more flexible and more profitable. Volkswagen describes it as the most strategically profound transformation programme in its history.
At the centre of the strategy is a fundamental rethink of Volkswagen's sprawling model range. By 2035, the number of models offered across its ten brands is planned to be reduced by around 50 per cent. Volkswagen says concentrating investment on fewer models will enable it to achieve higher volumes for individual cars, reduce costs and create greater economies of scale. The move is intended to lead to greater sharing of platforms, electronic architectures, software and components between Volkswagen Group brands than is the case today.
It represents a reversal of the expansion strategy pursued by the Volkswagen Group over previous decades, during which an increasing number of models, derivatives and technologies were used to cover almost every major segment of the global car market. Future investment will instead be concentrated on what Volkswagen considers its most attractive models and profitable market segments.
While not officially confirmed in the VW Group's statements on the restructure, internal documents seen by Autocar confirm that one of the first casualties will be Seat. The 76-year-old Spanish brand will be phased out by the end of 2029 at the latest, while its more upmarket spinoff Cupra will continue as Volkswagen Group's standalone Spanish brand. The decision completes a strategy that began when Cupra was established as its own brand in 2018 following the Volkswagen Group's failure to purchase Alfa Romeo.
In recent years, Cupra has grown with a broader range of models and a more premium positioning than Seat, allowing the Volkswagen Group to command higher prices while targeting younger buyers. It has also overtaken its parent brand in sales. During the first half of 2026, Cupra delivered 170,100 cars, compared with 129,600 for Seat. For the UK, the decision brings an end to a presence stretching back more than four decades. Seat entered the British market in 1985, initially selling cars including the Ibiza and Malaga, before Volkswagen took control of the Spanish car maker in the following years.
More recently, increasing overlap between Seat, Skoda and Volkswagen has left Seat without an obvious position within the group, while Cupra has been allowed to establish a more distinctive identity. The Future Plan effectively settles the question of whether the two Spanish brands could continue alongside one another: Volkswagen has chosen Cupra.
Seat's demise forms part of a much wider product rationalisation. Volkswagen hasn't yet identified which other models will disappear, but reducing the portfolio by 50 per cent suggests considerable consolidation across its brands during the next decade. The changes will extend underneath the cars as well. Volkswagen wants to converge on just two principal electrical and electronic architectures for future EVs: its Software Defined Vehicle architecture and the China Electronic Architecture. A separate architecture is planned for future combustion-engined cars in Europe and North America.
Its forthcoming SSP platform programme is also being simplified. Eight planned variants are being reduced to four, with substantially greater component sharing between them. The Volkswagen Group wants to spend less developing fewer combinations of models and technology. Technical development itself is also set for a major restructuring, with greater responsibility handed to individual lead brands to develop systems for use elsewhere in the group. This one-for-all approach is intended to eliminate duplicated engineering and shorten development times.
Volkswagen will simultaneously make greater use of AI, increase engineering activity at lower-cost locations and reduce the scale of its technical development operations. The group's software subsidiary Cariad is to be restructured too, with its responsibilities significantly reduced. A detailed plan is due to be tabled by the end of 2026, according to an internal resolution document obtained by Autocar.
Despite the cuts, Volkswagen says it will invest a three-figure billion Euro sum in new products, technologies and future growth areas over the coming years. Its new target is €135 billion (£117bn) of investment in research and development spending between 2027 and 2031. However, this represents a substantial reduction against previous planning. The Volkswagen Group is cutting around €50bn from earlier investment and R&D over five years.
