Volkswagen to cut up to 7,000 jobs by 2023

Volkswagen will cut between 5,000 and 7,000 jobs atits core VW brand over the next five years as part of efforts toimprove earnings by 5.9 billion euros (6.7 billion dollars) annually,the German carmaker said Wednesday.It said the losses would be the result of the automation of routinetasks but that retirements would help absorb some of the losses andthat another 2,000 jobs would be created in technical development.The company is investing huge amounts of money in modernizing its ITsystems and is also planning to reduce its range of models and cutmaterial costs."The measures from the earnings improvement programme will enable ourbrand to achieve a competitive return level of 6 per cent in 2022,"board member Arno Antlitz said in a statement.