Volkswagen to cut up to 20,000 workers at VW brand

[Marc]

From about 10 places, all with almost identical text:

Volkswagen AG said Friday that up to 20,000 jobs could be cut by 2009 under a new restructuring plan designed to reduce costs, that could also see production capacity cut, and boost earnings for Europe's biggest automaker.

The announcement came as Volkswagen reported a preliminary 2005 net profit of 1.1 billion euros ($1.3 billion), beating estimates for a profit of 834 million euros ($998 million). Its sales rose to 95.3 billion euros ($114 billion) in 2005 from 88.96 billion euros in 2004.

"In the next three years, up to 20,000 direct and indirect employees within the Volkswagen passenger car brand could be affected by this restructuring program," the company said in a statement after a meeting of its board.

[peteroldfield1971]

Quoted from the BBC News web site:

"The company is expected to make the cuts at its core Volkswagen business. Its shares jumped 8% to 54.79 euros. "

"VW, Europe's biggest car firm, also reported a preliminary net profit of 1.1bn euros (£752m) for 2005, topping analyst estimates.

Sales totalled 95.3bn euros in 2005"