Europe’s largest carmaker, expected to report dismal third-quarter results on Wednesday, has been crushed by the auto market downturn while competition intensifies from China. 

On Monday, Volkswagen’s top labor leader, works council chief Daniela Cavallo, who also sits on VW’s supervisory board, was quoted by Bloomberg as saying three factories are slated for closures. 

Cavallo warned that tens of thousands of jobs could be eliminated, and remaining workers could face 10% pay cuts and scaled-back hours.

“This means taking out even more products, quantities, shifts and entire assembly lines far beyond what we have already done so far,” Cavallo told factory workers earlier today, adding, “This is starvation, a weakening in installments.”

German VW plants. The orange icon are component plants, while blue icon are manufacturing ones. 

Cavallo said cost-cutting measures may threaten “tens of thousands” of jobs in Germany. She noted that Porsche has already canceled its production deal and future model planning at the Osnabrück factory. 

VW has ten plants and employs 300,000 workers across Germany, the economic powerhouse in the bloc. Potential job loss for VW workers comes amid numerous profit warnings in recent months and mounting union fights.

We’ve been extensively covering the dire situation unfolding at VW:

Sept. 03: Volkswagen Considers First-Ever Germany Factory Closures As Economic Troubles Mount
Sept. 10: Volkswagen Declares War On Unions, Scraps Three-Decade-Old Job Protections
Sept. 27: Volkswagen Cuts Profit Forecast Again Amid Sliding Car Demand

VW’s restructuring would be historic and mark the first closure of German-based plants in the company’s 87-year history. This comes amid intensifying competition from China and slowing auto sales across the West. The transition to EV has proved nothing short of disastrous, leaving VW with little choice but to push itself into restructure mode. Maybe VW should’ve stuck with petrol-burning cars.