Volkswagen Group’s Brand Group Core is preparing a major reorganisation that will trim management layers and combine production and development operations across its high-volume marques.
Brand Group Core coordinates Volkswagen’s volume brands by pooling production, processes and resources across multiple plants.
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The German carmaker said changes to production alone are expected to generate cumulative savings of €1bn ($1.16bn) by 2030.
The programme will begin this month and is due to be largely in place by the summer, with additional reductions in management structures planned over the medium term.
By that point, the number of board members across Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Škoda, SEAT&CUPRA and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles is set to fall by roughly a third.
From the start of 2026, production, technical development and procurement will increasingly be overseen at group level through a newly formed Brand Group Core board of management.
Individual brand boards will retain four posts – CEO, board member for finance, board member for human resources and board member for sales.
The central body will handle cross-brand decisions and supervision to simplify processes and shorten decision chains.
Operationally, more than 20 factories worldwide will be regrouped into five regions, each run by regional teams responsible for joint planning, steering and logistics.
The first of these clusters has already been created on the Iberian Peninsula, bringing several plants under a single cross-brand structure.
Volkswagen management board member, Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand CEO and Brand Group Core head Thomas Schäfer said: “Our synergistic steering model is the next step in our cooperation. The new Brand Group Board of Management brings greater speed and steering for the optimal cross-brand outcome. That is why the focus is on management efficiency – and on faster process speed for more competitive products. The new governance reduces costs and structures – while at the same time increasing our efficiency level. This reorganization is a significant step for the future viability of the Brand Group Core.”
Volkswagen added that the updated governance framework is also intended to lower technical development spending by expanding shared projects between brands, while enabling the wider group to concentrate on strategic priorities such as software and batteries.
