- Audi plans to cut 7,500 jobs by 2029
- Porsche plans to cut 3,900 jobs by 2029
- Both automakers saw sales decline in 2024
Audi and Porsche are the latest in a growing list of automakers announcing major job cuts.
After Porsche announced last week that it will reduce its workforce by 3,900 jobs by 2029, fellow Volkswagen Group brand Audi followed on Monday by stating that it will reduce its own workforce by 7,500 jobs by the same date. In Audi’s case, the automaker has already shed around 9,500 jobs since 2019. While those previous job cuts were mostly in production, the new cuts will focus on non-production areas such as administration and development.
Where possible, the automakers plan to make the cuts via retirements and voluntary measures, as well as the expiration of fixed-term employment contracts.
According to Reuters, these latest job cuts are in addition to the 35,000 jobs Volkswagen announced last December that it plans to cut by the end of the decade, as well as 1,600 job cuts planned at the Cariad software division, bringing the total planned job reductions across the Volkswagen Group portfolio of brands to just under 48,000.
2025 Porsche Taycan GTS
Audi and Porsche both saw sales declines in 2024, primarily due to lower demand in China. They also face steep costs in the transition to electrification, and the new threat of tariffs in the U.S. market could add further pressure to their bottom lines.
Even before the tariff threat, Audi announced last December that it will close its plant in Brussels, Belgium, which manufactures the Q8 E-Tron electric midsize SUV, due to slow sales.
Despite the cuts, Audi and Porsche are both investing in new products for their lineups. While announcing the job reductions, Audi said it will add production of a new entry-level EV at its Ingolstadt, Germany, plant, believed to be an electric A3. The plant currently builds the A3, among other models. Audi also stated that it is considering adding production of an additional model at its plant in nearby Neckarsulm.
Porsche also has new models in the pipeline. An electric Cayenne will join the current gas-powered SUV next year, while a three-row flagship battery-powered SUV is expected around 2027. Additionally, a new gas-powered SUV to replace the current gas Macan—and sell alongside the recently launched electric Macan—is under consideration for late this decade.
