BYD says Volkswagen job cuts show Europe’s EV industry crisis

BYD’s European adviser has used Volkswagen’s reported restructuring plans to argue that Europe’s electric-vehicle industry is facing a broader crisis of cost and competitiveness.

Alfredo Altavilla, BYD’s special adviser for Europe, said at a Reuters Automotive Europe conference in Frankfurt on July 1 that Volkswagen’s reported plan to cut up to 100,000 jobs was a wake-up call for the region’s car industry. He also criticized efforts to block Chinese automakers from Europe, saying those efforts were not working.

The comments turn a reported internal Volkswagen cost-cutting drive into a wider argument about the future of European auto manufacturing. They also underline how quickly the EV transition has become tied to jobs, plant usage, tariffs and market access.

Volkswagen’s restructuring pressure

Volkswagen has not confirmed the full scope of the reported cuts. Earlier reporting on June 26 said the group was considering reductions of up to 100,000 jobs and possible closures of four German plants, although the company did not confirm the figure at the time.

A Volkswagen spokesperson said the company’s current business model no longer works across all brands and that the auto industry is undergoing a profound transformation. The group has also said its model of developing cars in Germany, making them in Europe and exporting them globally no longer works across all brands.

That backdrop makes Altavilla’s remarks especially pointed. By citing Volkswagen’s restructuring plans, BYD is framing Europe’s EV problem not as a temporary slowdown, but as evidence that legacy manufacturers are under structural cost pressure.

The stakes are significant for Volkswagen workers, German plants and the wider industrial base around Europe’s car sector. Any final restructuring plan would affect not just payrolls but also production footprints and supplier networks.

BYD’s Europe push

The remarks also fit BYD’s own expansion strategy. Reporting says the Chinese carmaker sold nearly 188,000 vehicles in Europe last year, expects to sell 1.5 million units overseas in 2026 and plans to reach 2,000 European dealership outlets by the end of this year.

That growth puts BYD in direct competition with established European brands at a moment when many of them are struggling to absorb the cost of electrification. For BYD, the message is that Europe’s slower-moving manufacturers are being exposed by a market shift they did not prepare for quickly enough.

Altavilla’s criticism of anti-Chinese measures also highlights the policy dimension of the dispute. European policymakers have been weighing tariffs, subsidies and other barriers to Chinese EV makers, while manufacturers and unions warn that the region’s industry is being squeezed from both sides.

What comes next

Investors, workers and policymakers are now watching for Volkswagen’s next formal step. The research packet points to a supervisory-board discussion of restructuring details and to any official company statement that confirms or narrows the reported cuts.

Unions and German officials are also likely to react if the scale of the plan becomes clearer. For now, the reporting leaves one central uncertainty unresolved: whether Volkswagen’s final restructuring will match the breadth of the earlier reports.

BYD, meanwhile, appears set to keep pressing its advantage in Europe as the region’s carmakers wrestle with the cost of transition, stronger Chinese competition and growing political pressure over how to respond.