Earlier this year, GM CEO Mary Barra announced plans to cut almost 14,000 jobs across North America in order to free up some funds for the brand's massive switch to electrification.
Following in the American brand's footsteps, Audi announced just this morning that 9500 workers at German factories will be let go between now and 2025, for the same reason.
According to the brand's release, this plan has been dubbed Audi.Zukunft, or Audi.Future, and is set to save almost $10 billion over the next few years, which will be allocated to electric vehicle development.
Job losses will be targetted along a "demographic curve", and the brand hopes that turnover and the "attractive early-retirement program" will mean that the number of forced redundancies are minimised.
The jobs that will be cut account for around 15 per cent of the brand's total German workforce, as the management workforce will receive similar cuts. Jobs of the "core workforce" will be guaranteed by 2029.
Alongside these cuts, Audi expects an extra 2000 jobs to be created thanks to this new focus on electrification. Thanks to their abilities to manufacture electric vehicles, the future of both Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm factories have been secured.
This announcement coincides with Audi revealing that the Neckarsulm factory will be where the upcoming e-tron GT will be built. This electric sedan will feature the underpinnings of the Porsche Taycan, and go on sale in New Zealand from $134,900.