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The changes Volkswagen are world-changing, with the German automaker’s leadership team announcing today to labor union leaders that it is ending a 30-year-old agreement that protected workers from layoffs.

Volkswagen is going through the worst period in its history, following the trajectory of the German economy, which is on the brink of recession.

Volkswagen is considering the unprecedented step of closing its factories in Germany for the first time in its 87-year history as part of a broader effort to cut costs amidst increasing competition from Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers, CNN and Financial Times report.

The U.S. Justice Department on May 3 disclosed the filing of criminal charges against former Volkswagen AG Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn, accusing him of conspiring to cover up the German automaker's diesel emissions cheating.

German automaker Volkswagen on Nov. 17 said it planned to invest more than 34 billion euros ($40 billion) over the next five years in new technologies to advance its push to become a global leader in electric cars.

German auto giant Volkswagen on Feb. 24 said it raced back into the black in 2016 as car sales hit an all-time high, in the latest sign of its "dieselgate" scandal fading into the rearview mirror.

BELGRADE - Serbian national Miroslav Tomic, employed at German engineering group Ferrostaal, has been freed in Libya on Wednesday, the foreign ministry cited the Serbian Embassy in Tripoli as saying after having received the confirmation.

Serbian national Miroslav Tomic, who was abducted in Libya on Sunday, "has been freed and taken to a safe place."

Martin Wiechers from German engineering group Ferrostaal, which employs Tomic, told Tanjug on Tuesday.

Turkey's leading producer of infamous riot control vehicles with water cannons, popularly known as TOMAs, posted record profits and revenue in 2015 - the highest since the company's foundation some 30 years ago. 

Volkswagen will cut investment at its biggest division by 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) a year and speed up cost cutting, the carmaker said on Oct. 13, as it strives to cope with fallout from its cheating of diesel emissions tests.

Volkswagen chief executive Martin Winterkorn resigned on Sept.23 over a pollution cheating scandal that has sparked a US criminal investigation and worldwide legal action with unfathomable financial consequences for the auto giant.