2025 U.S.-Booked Air Volume: $61M
Consolidated Global TMC: BCD
Volkswagen has six production sites plus two software development centers and two “innovation centers” in the United States, where BTN estimates the automotive group spent $61 million on flights in 2025.
Globally, VW had 663,000 employees at the end of 2025, with 111 production facilities in 26 countries producing 9 million vehicles. Revenue fell from €324.7 billion in 2024 to €321.9 billion. Vehicle sales rose 5 percent in Europe and 10 percent in South America, but dropped 6 percent in China and 12 percent in North America.
Emissions caused by business travel in 2025 were 220,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, unchanged from the year before but still substantially down on the 710,000 metric tons declared in VW’s emissions reporting baseline year of 2018.
In September 2026, the group announced major changes to its strategy. The budget for capital investment plus research and development was slashed by 25 percent, although VW said the reduced sum of €135 billion still outstrips investment allocations by its competitors. Personnel will be reduced by 50,000, half in Germany and half in the rest of the world, including reducing management positions from 21,500 to 16,000. VW will also exit from one-third of the 2,000 shareholdings it has in other companies.
Despite the current downturn in sales in North America, driven in large part by increased tariffs, VW identified the United States as a key growth market for the next five years.