Volkswagen chief confirms plan to cut 50,000 more jobs

Last week management at the 10-brand group began what could be a long and tough process of thrashing out job cuts in talks with the supervisory board as workers protested at plants nationwide.

Taking into account indirect as well as direct employment, the automotive sector is responsible for around 3m jobs in Germany.

It suffered a steep decline in profits last year – the result of falling sales in key markets, as well as increasing competition from Chinese brands moving into Europe.

To close that gap, management has calculated what it described as a "theoretical deduction" of another 50,000 jobs worldwide, effectively confirming for the first time that the company is evaluating reductions totaling up to 100,000 positions across the group.