Volkswagen To Spend $18.6 Billion On Job-Cutting, Factory-Shuttering Restructuring – Jalopnik

Happy Thursday! It’s September 10, 2026, and that is The Morning Shift — your roundup of the highest automotive headlines from around the globe, in a single place. This is the place you will discover crucial tales which are shaping the best way Americans drive and get round.

In this morning’s version, we’re wanting on the reported monetary price of Volkswagen doubtlessly shutting down 4 factories and Cadillac sellers’ fears that the automaker is not pivoting again to gas-powered fashions quick sufficient. We’ll additionally take a look at Porsche finishing the sale of its stake in Bugatti and the Boring Company’s Emirati funding windfall.

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Volkswagen is within the midst of its largest-ever restructuring, which is a mild approach of claiming a number of factories will shut and 1000’s of employees might be laid off to defend the corporate’s income. However, it’s a must to spend cash to save cash and Volkswagen might be doing a complete lot of spending. The German automaker’s plan will price an estimated $18.6 billion. From Reuters:

“Volkswagen estimates the overall price ​of job cuts and potential plant closures, ‌a part of a landmark restructuring pact struck final week, at round €16 billion ($18.6 billion), an individual ​accustomed to the matter mentioned on ​Thursday.

…

The plan contains exploring alternate options for 4 German crops that can finally run out ​of fashions through the subsequent decade and ​a discount of round 50,000 extra positions than beforehand deliberate.

A ‌Volkswagen ⁠spokesperson declined to touch upon the prices, which have been first reported by German journal Der Spiegel.

The supply instructed Reuters that ​phasing out manufacturing ​in ⁠Emden and Zwickau would price about €1 billion every, whereas €2 billion every ​can be incurred on the Neckarsulm ​and ⁠Hanover crops.

About €10 billion can be put aside for prices associated to reducing as much as ⁠60,000 ​jobs worldwide.”

If determined instances name for determined measures, Volkswagen is prepared to do something keep afloat financially. Along with the roles and manufacturing unit, the automotive behemoth would possibly even cull half of its mannequin lineup throughout all its manufacturers.

While Cadillac sellers are glad to see the model abandon its plans to turn into an EV-only automaker, they worry dropping prospects through the transition interval over the subsequent few years. Cadillac nonetheless wants to supply the gas-powered fashions it would promote in showrooms. The solely factor the sellers can do is solely wait it out. From Automotive News:

“After killing the XT4 and XT6 crossovers final 12 months and the CT4 sedan this summer season, General Motors’ luxurious model now’s working to backfill these holes. Redesigned variations of the XT5, XT6 and CT5 are anticipated in 2027 and 2028.

Many Cadillac sellers are glad the model will not drive them into promoting solely electrical automobiles earlier than the posh market is prepared. But on the similar time, they’re involved concerning the prospect of weak gross sales within the coming 12 months as a result of their choices with inner combustion engines have gotten skinny.

“It’s the midsize crossover market that’s going to be the challenge,” mentioned Ed Williamson, CEO of Williamson Auto Group, which operates a Cadillac dealership in Miami. “I think [GM CEO Mary Barra] did a disservice to the Cadillac dealers in not figuring out a way to reload XT5 and XT6 sooner.””

Industry analysts counsel Cadillac ought to overproduce its present ICE-powered fashions so the stock glut could make the transition interval smoother. The pivot again may very well be seen as a failure, however Cadillac was solely second to Tesla in EV gross sales.

Porsche has formally offloaded its stake in Bugatti-Rimac, netting $1.2 billion for the financially beleaguered automaker. Close to 1 / 4 of the proceeds will fund the corporate’s pension obligations. Porsche is trying to rebound from a tough 2025, when it lower roughly 1,900 jobs in Germany in response to declining gross sales and excessive tariffs. From Reuters:

“The firm mentioned the deal ⁠would assist carry its 2026 automotive web money movement ​margin forecast to five.5%-7.5%, from 3%-5% beforehand. Porsche plans ​to allocate €250 million of the proceeds to additional fund pension obligations.

The disposal varieties a part of Porsche’s broader effort to focus ​on its core automotive enterprise as the posh carmaker ​faces weaker demand in China and a slower-than-expected transition to electrical ‌automobiles, ⁠points which have pressured earnings throughout the European auto sector.

Porsche had held a forty five% stake in Bugatti Rimac and a 20.6% stake in Rimac Group after ​serving to set up the ​Bugatti Rimac ⁠three way partnership in 2021.”

While the sale will bolster Porsche’s funds within the short-term, most of the market circumstances that created Porsche’s present predicament nonetheless exist. The automaker’s gross sales in China are nonetheless declining. The focus of President Donald Trump’s tariff tirades may need shifted to Canada, however all it might take is one unhealthy cellphone name with Berlin or Paris for the EU to be again on the chopping block.

The Boring Company is all of a sudden value $23 billion after a $675 million funding from the UAE. The Musk-led enterprise was beforehand valued at $5.7 billion in 2022. The firm’s solely tangible declare to fame is constructing the world’s worst subway system beneath the Las Vegas Convention Center. The funding has been earmarked for the development of the Dubai Loop. From Quartz:

“The firm mentioned the capital is earmarked for establishing a community exceeding 150 kilometers of underground infrastructure all through the UAE, extending the work already underway by the Dubai Loop venture. Funds will even go towards hiring throughout engineering, manufacturing, and operations, and towards increasing Loop tasks in Las Vegas and Nashville, in addition to additional growth of the corporate’s Prufrock tunnel-boring machines.

The UAE’s position as lead investor coincides with its place as the first buyer for the most important venture the funding will finance. The Boring Company signed a definitive settlement with Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority to start building of the Dubai Loop, an underground passenger transport system, on the World Governments Summit 2026. The first section covers a 4-mile pilot route with 4 stations linking the Dubai International Financial Centre and Dubai Mall, at an estimated price of $154 million. The full route would lengthen as much as 14 miles and embrace 19 stations, at a complete estimated price of $545 million, the corporate mentioned.”

It won’t be my cash to burn, however the Tesla Model Y ought to be the spine of any transportation system that prices $545 million. Whether or not it’s in Nashville or Dubai, you’ll be able to’t persuade me that an precise subway system would not be a cheaper possibility.

George Smith grew to become the primary particular person arrested for drunk driving on this present day in 1897. The 25-year-old taxi driver had little protection after slamming his automobile right into a constructing in London. He obtained off mild in comparison with in the present day’s customary. Smith was fined 20 shillings, or $227 in in the present day’s {dollars}. One final notice: Smith’s taxi was an electrical automobile. EVs have been making historical past even within the late nineteenth century.

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