Volkswagen Turns to Headhunters to Place Hundreds of Managers It Is Cutting

Volkswagen has approached recruitment firms to place hundreds of departing managers into jobs elsewhere, the Financial Times reported, an unusual step that indicates how many management and office roles the company intends to remove. The move accompanies a broader plan that includes tens of thousands of job cuts and a shrinking of the group's model range and production capacity.

The restructuring reflects pressures that extend beyond one company. German automakers face high domestic energy and labor costs, a slower-than-expected shift to electric vehicles, and increasing competition from Chinese manufacturers that now export lower-priced electric cars into Europe. Levels of management added during years of expansion are now being cut as the group tries to lower its fixed costs.

That Volkswagen is helping managers find work elsewhere, rather than simply dismissing them, reflects the scale and political sensitivity of the cuts, which German lawmakers and labor unions have resisted. The effort places a large number of experienced executives onto the German job market at once, a sign of contraction in the country's most important manufacturing sector.