Volkswagen Group said it is creating a new Group Board of Management for its four high-volume brands — VW Passenger Cars, Škoda, Seat/Cupra and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles — in a restructuring aimed at cutting costs, streamlining decision-making and delivering up to €1 billion in production savings by 2030.
The new Brand Group Executive Board will become the highest decision-making body for cross-brand matters within the Brand Group Core (BGC), which has long coordinated Volkswagen’s volume brands. From this month, production, technical development and procurement at the four marques will be managed increasingly across brands, with the reorganisation expected to be completed by the summer.
Volkswagen said the changes are designed to simplify structures and accelerate processes, while also reducing management layers. As part of the overhaul, the executive boards of each of the four brands will be cut to four members — chief executive, chief financial officer, human resources director and sales director.
“In a first step, the total number of Board members within the four volume brands that make up the BGC will be reduced by approximately one third by summer 2026,” the company said, adding that further streamlining of management structures is planned over the medium term.
The move aligns with Volkswagen’s previously announced plan to cut more than 35,000 jobs by 2030, agreed during wage negotiations at the end of 2024. The company said the reductions would affect all levels of the organisation, including management.
Thomas Schäfer, head of the Brand Group Core and chief executive of the VW brand, said the new structure would improve speed and accountability across the group. “The new Brand Group Board of Management brings greater speed and steering for the optimal cross-brand outcome,” Schäfer said. “That is why the focus is on management efficiency – and on faster process speed for more competitive products.”
Volkswagen did not disclose who will sit on the new Brand Group Executive Board, but Schäfer is widely expected to play a central role.
The automaker said the revised governance model would allow the group level to focus on major strategic synergies, such as software and battery development, while operational responsibility is pushed closer to regional and specialist units. “Responsibility will be spread more evenly going forward – regional and specialist competences will be deployed where they generate the greatest benefits for the entire organisation,” Volkswagen said.
In production alone, the restructuring is expected to unlock cumulative savings potential of around €1 billion by 2030, according to Schäfer. The company cautioned that this remains a potential figure rather than a fixed target.
A key element of the plan involves reorganising the Brand Group Core’s 20 production plants worldwide into five production regions. Newly appointed regional managers will assume cross-brand and cross-country responsibility for planning, control and logistics. Volkswagen said this regional model has already been launched on the Iberian Peninsula, where plants have been consolidated into a cross-brand production cluster.
The reorganisation comes as the Brand Group Core plays a central role in Volkswagen’s electrification strategy. In 2025, the four brands collectively posted 29% growth in battery-electric vehicle sales, with strong performances from Škoda and Seat/Cupra offsetting stagnation at the core VW brand.