The industry is shedding 15,000 jobs every month

Volkswagen Group filed its second-quarter results on Friday, showing the struggling car giant’s profit continuing to decline.

The company made net profit of €1.54 billion (about $1.75 billion) in the second quarter, down 32.9% from €2.29 billion in the same quarter of 2025.

Although the irregularities of the Trump administration’s tariff regime hardly help, most of the company’s problems can be traced back to China.

Sales in the world’s second-largest car market, especially of high-priced and high-margin models, are stagnating as China’s economic growth slows. And VW is battling intense Chinese competition in the Chinese market as well as in Europe, as Chinese carmakers look to tap new markets amid a domestic slowdown.

Some at the company are calling for more drastic job cuts and factory closures.

“In a situation where the overall market in China is shrinking by 20% and Chinese competitors are increasing their exports and therefore competitive pressure in Europe is increasing, the currently planned initiatives are not sufficient,” said board member Arno Antlitz.

Meanwhile, CEO Oliver Bloom said the savings program alone would not be enough. He said the priority should be to make VW faster, more flexible, more competitive and more innovative. He said they needed to find a way to remain profitable if selling only 8 million vehicles a year, and said he wanted the details to be finalized by the end of 2026.

“VW’s business model indeed faces pressure in many areas and adaptation requirements,” Blume said, although it is also clear that, “the debate about factory closures and historically unprecedented personnel cuts is not a new business model for the VW Group, because it brings no new sources of revenue or profits, it brings no technological benefits, creates no competitive products and creates no new markets for our vehicles.”

Some initial measures, such as reducing the range of products offered and streamlining production, should be completed this year, Bloom said. He said taking major steps would take time, adding it was unrealistic to expect complete factory closures before 2030.

The Volkswagen Group includes many leading automakers in Germany and beyond, including Audi, Porsche, Seat, Skoda, Lamborghini, Bentley and Ducati.