At a meeting on Monday, the Volkswagen Group's Supervisory Board and Board of Directors concluded that the group's current business model is ineffective and requires a radical overhaul. According to Automobilwoche, the meeting participants concluded that strict anti-crisis measures are necessary, including massive staff layoffs and the closure of several plants.

The group's crisis is due to a number of factors. The focus on total electrification, adopted after the diesel engine scandal in 2015, failed to materialize amid slowing global demand for electric vehicles. Meanwhile, the IT division, Cariad, failed to develop a unified operating system for the group's vehicles on schedule, leading to delays in the launch of key models. An additional blow was the weakening of Volkswagen's position in the Chinese market under pressure from local manufacturers.

At the end of 2025, the group's net profit decreased by 44,3% to 6,9 billion euros, and the operating margin fell from 5,9% to 2,8%.

The agreement reached with the Zukunft Volkswagen trade unions at the end of 2024 did not resolve the problem. The company's management acknowledges that partial measures have been exhausted, but the mechanism for implementing more radical solutions has not yet been determined. CEO Oliver Blume will continue to search for a way out of the crisis.