Things have not been going well for Volkswagen over the past few years. Declining sales and profits, particularly in China, have pushed company leadership to consider drastic measures to improve overall competitiveness and profitability.
In addition to plant closures, which could potentially shutter four or five German assembly plants across the Group, various reports suggest the company is also looking to slash its current model lineup by as much as 50 percent by 2030.
According to a recent Motor1 report, available options for Volkswagen Group models will shrink by 75 percent, and annual production capacity will drop from 10 million to 9 million units annually by the end of the decade.
While Volkswagen hasn’t confirmed any plant closures yet, it has mentioned publicly its plans to shrink its product portfolios along the lines mentioned above.
According to Motor1’s report, Volkswagen won’t drop these models overnight, but steps are already underway to reduce the variants of those impacted. It says that while these cars are still in production they are “living on borrowed time.”
So, which ones are on the chopping block?
Volkswagen isn’t commenting publicly, but Motor1 cites a list of potential cuts that was reported in Bild, a German newspaper.
Not all of these will have relevance in North America, but there are a few nameplates that do. For the Volkswagen brand, Bild says the Jetta sedan and compact Taos SUV will be discontinued when their current generations end.
The Taos has only been around since 2022, but the Jetta goes back to 1979 and is the brand’s last surviving sedan in North America. The current seventh generation model has been around since 2018, and was refreshed in 2021, and again in 2024.
Despite a shrinking sedan market, the Jetta still sells relatively well. U.S. sales were down in 2025, but, with 54,291 sold, it still ranked fourth on the company’s sales chart. Through Q2 this year, its sales are up 9.7 percent, ranking third behind Tiguan and Atlas SUVs.
Elsewhere, Bild reports four Porsche models could be discontinued, including the battery-electric Taycan sedan, Cayenne Coupe, and 718 sports coupes (Boxster and Cayman). Interestingly, the 718s that could be dropped are the gas-powered versions just announced last year, not the EV variants. Bild doesn’t mention those, so they could survive.
Motor1 mentions that Porsche has a Capital Markets Day, called Strategy 2035, coming up on October 7, so we should know more about its future product plans then.
As for Audi, Bild suggests two SUVs, the Q5 Sportback and Q6 e-tron EV, could be discontinued at the end of their current lifecycles. This likely won’t happen soon, however, as both just went on sale in 2025.
Two other models that are sold primarily in Europe, the Skoda Fabia, a subcompact hatchback, and the Cupra Raval, an electric subcompact that just went on sale this year, are also rumored to be discontinued.
The Bild list doesn’t include any Lamborghini or Bentley models, but Motor1 notes that is likely due to those brands having smaller lineups and cars that are more profitable despite smaller sales volumes.
Motor1 notes that profit margins are the biggest priorities for Volkswagen. Big sales numbers alone aren’t enough to keep models around. Group CEO Oliver Blume has said as much recently, telling Bild, “Our products are very popular – but we’re not making enough money on them. That’s why we need to further reduce our costs – across all categories.”
If the rumors are true, and these 10 cars – and potentially others – disappear over the next few years, Volkswagen will be a radically altered automaker that bears little resemblance to the one we know today.
Photos courtesy of Audi, Porsche, and Volkswagen
