By Rachel More and Ilona Wissenbach
BERLIN, July 27 (Reuters) – German luxury carmaker Porsche will cut 9,000 jobs in total by 2035, it said on Monday, as parent Volkswagen and its brands restructure in the face of weak demand and stiff competition.
In a deal announced after months of negotiations, Porsche management and labour representatives agreed to 5,000 additional job cuts that avoid compulsory redundancies through measures like natural attrition and voluntary schemes.
These measures follow a first package of 3,900 job cuts and another 500 announced by new CEO Michael Leiters earlier this year linked to the closure of subsidiaries.
On becoming CEO at the start of the year, Leiters was tasked with overhauling the business after sales in Porsche’s once highly lucrative China market collapsed and its EV strategy stalled.
Other German carmakers including Mercedes-Benz and BMW are also cutting costs as they navigate the shift to electric vehicles in a race with Chinese rivals while absorbing the impact of high tariffs.
The deal announced by Porsche on Monday also includes guarantees to keep sites open for another five years, until the end of 2035, as well as €2.1 billion ($2.39 billion) in investments in its main factory of Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen and its R&D centre in Weissach, the company and the works council said in a statement.
The announcement followed a meeting of Porsche’s supervisory board last Wednesday, in which the committee gave its blessing to the additional cuts.
Leiters’ predecessor Oliver Blume remains CEO of Volkswagen, having ended a dual leadership role that was opposed by many investors.
Blume is now pushing for a doubling of job cuts across the Volkswagen group to 100,000, measures that he says are necessary to remain competitive as more Chinese brands come to Europe.
He has also warned that four of the group’s factories, including one belonging to premium brand Audi, are threatened with closure after 2030.
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(Reporting by Rachel More; Editing by Miranda Murray and Susan Fenton)
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