Volkswagen Sheds Prestige Assets and Billion-Euro Alliances as Overhaul Intensifies

The Volkswagen Group is jettisoning its marquee football holdings and a costly technology partnership as it scrambles to plug a gaping hole in its balance sheet. Audi holds an 8.33 percent stake in FC Bayern München AG, while Porsche owns 10.4 percent of VfB Stuttgart; both are now up for review and possible divestiture. Sponsorship arrangements with the clubs will remain intact, and the company’s own teams in Wolfsburg and Ingolstadt are not affected. Separate speculation has swirled that ultraluxury brands such as Lamborghini and Ducati could also be put on the block.

The belt-tightening extends beyond sport. On Wednesday, Volkswagen pulled the plug on its long-running alliance with Bosch for autonomous driving, a project that consumed roughly €1.5 billion and employed more than 1,000 developers. Media reports had flagged the technology as uncompetitive, and CEO Oliver Blume is now hunting for new partners to advance the company’s driver-assistance ambitions. The move is part of a broader effort to slash costs after a weak first quarter that saw operating profit fall 14 percent to €2.5 billion on a slight dip in revenue.

Even deeper cuts are looming across the workforce. Blume is preparing to eliminate up to 100,000 jobs globally—about 15 percent of all positions—and considers shuttering four German plants: Hannover, Zwickau, Emden, and the Audi factory in Neckarsulm. The planned reductions would hit tens of thousands of employees in Germany alone. Volkswagen also faces an annual hit of roughly €4 billion from anticipated US tariffs, prompting management to curb capital spending. The five-year investment budget has been slashed to around €130 billion, a sharp reduction from earlier plans.

To keep its domestic factories running, Wolfsburg is exploring a radical shift: building Chinese-developed cars in Europe. Among the candidates is the ID. Era 9X, a large SUV co-designed with SAIC, with a second model potentially arriving by late 2027. Developing vehicles in China costs nearly half as much as in Europe, making the strategy economically compelling. Zwickau, which has been struggling with low utilisation, is seen as the most likely test site, and Lower Saxony’s premier, Olaf Lies, has endorsed the move as a lifeline for local jobs.

Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Volkswagen?

The restructuring strains have battered Volkswagen’s stock. Shares hit a fresh 52‑week low of €69.20 during Wednesday’s session before recovering to close at €70.58. Year to date, the equity has lost roughly a third of its value. Technical indicators point to extreme overselling: the relative strength index sits at about 20, versus the usual oversold threshold of 30. Investors are bracing for fireworks at the next supervisory board meeting, scheduled for 9 July 2026, where directors will formally vote on the saving plan and any asset sales.

Economists warn that time is running out. Moritz Schularick of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy said that if the restructuring fails, a takeover by Chinese rival BYD cannot be ruled out in the medium term. BYD is already scouting locations in Spain and France for its own European plant, raising the stakes for Volkswagen’s board. Meanwhile, labour representatives from IG Metall and the works council have vowed fierce opposition to any plant closures, setting the stage for a tense showdown ahead of the July meeting.

With its sports stakes, billion‑euro software alliance, and thousands of jobs all on the chopping block, Volkswagen faces a defining moment. The 9 July board session will determine whether the company can execute a rapid pivot toward leaner costs, Chinese‑inspired product lines, and a drastically reduced German footprint—or risk falling further behind in a brutally competitive global market.