There's still time for Germany to strip the manufacturing assets from management and shareholders and retool to build EVs and battery storage. The alternative is losing to China, which currently has enough EV manufacturing capacity for global demand, and does not care about such ownership structures. When those VW workers are gone, that experience goes out the door with them. Shareholders and management do not build EVs and batteries, workers do.

Does the economic situation improve for VW if they cut 50k workers and China keeps spooling EV and battery storage manufacturing capacity? Or does it maintain shareholder profits for just a bit longer? The Porsche-Piëch family family, which controls a majority of VW's voting rights through Porsche SE, is pushing for this due to returns and dividend flows coming under pressure while investing in enterprise transformation (electrification, software). Does the state manufacturing capacity and keeping those workers employed matter? Or family wealth and profits? China made their decision, Germany has to make theirs.

VW Approves Plan to Cut 50,000 More Jobs in Broad Overhaul - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-03/vw-board-... | https://archive.today/YqM60 - September 3rd, 2026

China growth straining global auto shipping capacity - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49553327 - September 2026

Where Chinese EVs Are Selling the Most Worldwide - https://www.visualcapitalist.com/where-chinese-evs-are-selli... - March 4th, 2026

(China is exporting ~4M more vehicles per year than VW delivers globally, as of this comment)

https://www.volkswagen-group.com/en/press-releases/volkswage...

I would add transition to a more digital era. Apps, distribution, website, in car entertainment etc…