VW to cut 50,000 jobs by 2030 amid Trump tariffs and falling Chinese sales
Europe’s largest automaker, Volkswagen, is to shed 50,000 jobs by the end of the decade, as it faces falling sales in China and North America and punitive US tariffs imposed by Donald Trump.The 10-brand group, whose luxury subsidiaries Porsche and Audi are also under pressure, said the jobs would go in Germany, affecting the entire group, as part of a restructuring drive amid the darkening global business climate.The group had already struck a deal with German trade unions at the end of 2024 to cut 35,000 jobs by 2030, in part by natural attrition through retirement and other staff departures.Volkswagen revealed the updated plans as it announced a 54% drop in pre-tax profits.The group has been scaling back its targets for electric vehicle (EV) production in recent months, including at its Italian supercar manufacturer, Lamborghini.
As the US-Israeli military action against Iran stokes market uncertainty and drives up energy prices, Volkswagen warned that global turbulence would negatively affect its outlook,“Challenges are expected in particular from the macroeconomic environment, uncertainties regarding restrictions in international trade and geopolitical tensions,” the company said,This would increase “competitive intensity” and volatility on “commodity, energy and foreign exchange markets”, it said in a statement,The Volkswagen Group chief executive, Oliver Blume, said later that although the Iran war was not hitting Volkswagen’s supply chain it could affect demand for its premium marques Audi and Porsche,“We are simply seeing how volatile and fragile our world is, with new issues arising every month,” Blume said, pointing to a potential drag on sales from the conflict in the region, where volumes are modest but margins high.
The fall in profits, to €8.9bn (£6.6bn), was largely “attributable to US tariffs”, the company reported, as well as a costly strategy shift at Porsche, which has postponed its transition to EVs owing to slack demand.Porsche’s operating profit nearly vanished in 2025, falling by 98% to €90m.Even before Trump slapped tariffs on foreign carmakers last year, Volkswagen was struggling with flat demand in Europe and the costs of investing in EVs despite disappointing demand and insufficient infrastructure.
Domestic competition ate away at the group’s share in China, the world’s biggest car market,Blume announced “the largest product campaign in our history” there to try to claw back customers,“After three intensive years of realignment within the Volkswagen Group, we are seeing tangible progress,” Blume said,“At the same time, we are operating in a fundamentally different environment,”Arno Antlitz, the chief financial officer, said that against a challenging backdrop Volkswagen wanted to “keep our combustion engine vehicles technologically competitive, continue investing in exciting electric vehicles and the latest software solutions for our customers, and expand our regional presence, particularly in the United States.
“We can only realise this if we continue to rigorously reduce costs, leverage group synergies, reduce complexity and thus sustainably increase profitability,” he added.Meanwhile, the French carmaker Renault said that by 2030 electric vehicles and hybrids would account for all its sales in Europe.“By 2030, the brand is aiming for … 100% electric sales in Europe and 50% outside Europe,” the company said.The EV sales will include hybrid cars, which are allowed under concessions made by the EU earlier this year to help car companies reach net zero targets and develop small cars in their EV ranges.The company said it plans to develop its new electric car platform together with Google based on Android technology.
Renault said the aim was to have 90% of the vehicle functions able to be updated remotely, cutting time to deploy updates, and for vehicles to able to handle ultra-fast charging in as little as 10 minutes.Reuters contributed to this report
Farage delivers energy sermon at the pump – just don’t mention the war
Let’s try to look on the bright side. At least Nigel Farage wasn’t personally out of pocket. There again, he seldom is. The whole point of being Nige is to never pay for anything if you can help it. Unless you fancy buying a few shares in Kwasi Kwarteng’s “get rich quick” crypto scheme
Lammy defends jury reforms against claims they will worsen racial bias in legal system – as it happened
As we have already mentioned in the blog, MPs will debate and vote on the principles of the proposals in the Courts and Tribunals Bill during its second reading today, with the legislation facing a significant backbench rebellion in the Commons.The justice secretary, David Lammy, has been defending the plans to cut the number of jury trials in England and Wales after intense criticism from legal professionals who argue they erode constitutional principles. Critics also say the plans risk worsening racial bias within the criminal justice system and won’t be that effective at clearing the backlog.Defending his proposed changes, Lammy said:double quotation markThe status quo of the broken system does produce injustice, and the burden of that delay is not evenly shared.Black people are 14% more likely to be victims of crime
Nigel Farage accused of U-turn as he says UK should keep out of Iran war
Nigel Farage has been accused of making a U-turn after he said Britain should not get involved in Donald Trump’s war with Iran.His comments on Tuesday contrasted with his previous assertion that the “gloves need to come off” when dealing with Iran.Anna Turley, chair of the Labour party, said: “Reform wanted the UK to go to war in Iran and are now trying to cover up the consequences for British families, including higher fuel prices.”While Farage has insisted he does not heed public opinion, a YouGov poll showed Reform’s 2024 voters are split, with nearly a quarter (24%) wanting the UK to actively join the attack on Iran and 63% supporting either a retaliatory or defensive position.The conflict has exposed existing fault lines among senior Reform figures over foreign policy and the extent to which the UK should take a more isolationist “Britain First” position – an echo of splits in Trump’s own conservative base in the US
Ministers to ask 100 UK citizens to advise on digital ID plans
Ministers will ask 100 people randomly selected from across Britain to feed into the government’s consultation on digital IDs as the government hopes to combat conspiracy theories about how it intends to use the technology.Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the prime minister, will announce the details of the consultation on Tuesday, amid scepticism from parts of the public and within the government about the idea.As part of the consultation, ministers will announce a “citizens’ assembly” of people to feed in their views in an effort to hear the concerns of non-experts.Jones is also facing resistance from some of his own colleagues, with the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, understood to have ruled out using the technology to help allocate special educational needs funding.Jones said: “Public trust in the state has been declining for years, whoever has been in power – and people too often feel shut out of decisions
So Badenoch, Farage and Blair think the Iran war is a great idea? Hmm … | John Crace
There have been any number of opportunities for people to decide they wanted no part of America’s war with Iran. The first was after the US had launched its first wave of strikes. To be fair, this was the moment Keir Starmer and most of the UK reckoned enough was enough and that our involvement would be limited to defensive strikes only.You couldn’t really fault the logic. Did the UK really want to be part of a war that was illegal in most versions of international law and for which the Americans had no clear vision of how it might end? Other than Donald Trump gets bored and lets everyone else clear up his mess
Ministers must act more quickly on deepfakes to protect women and girls, Kendall says
Ministers need to act more quickly to combat fast-changing threats from technology such as deepfakes, the technology secretary has said, as she warned about the risks women and girls face online.Liz Kendall said on Monday that technology was developing at such a pace that it was outstripping the government’s ability to regulate it, even suggesting there could be regular annual reviews of regulations as happens at the budget.The technology secretary was speaking to the Guardian after hosting a roundtable with tech companies including Meta, Snapchat, Reddit, Match Group, Google, TikTok and OnlyFans, during which she urged them to do more to tackle online misogyny.She said: “It took eight years for [the Online Safety] Act to come in, and the technology has developed so rapidly it hasn’t kept pace. Every year MPs have a finance bill to deal with the budget
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