Skip next section What you need to know
What you need to know
- Volkswagen (VW) posts 3rd quarter losses of €5.8 billion ($6.46 bln)
- VW has been struggling to keep pace with competition from China and to transition to electric vehicles
- Chancellor Friedrich Merz is in South Korea at the end of his Asia tour
- 8-yeaar-old sustains serious injuries after wolf attack at a wildlife park in Brandenburg
Here are the main headlines from and about Germany on Thursday, October 29, 2026:
Skip next section German Chancellor Merz says he hopes for Korean reunification10/29/2026October 29, 2026
German Chancellor Merz says he hopes for Korean reunification
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who is visiting Seoul, said at the start of his visit that he hopes North and South Korea will eventually be reunited.
The Korean Peninsula has been divided into two states since the Korean War ended in 1953.
Merz pointed to his own country’s division between West and East Germany for much of the second half of the 20th century.
“Korea and Germany are united by the painful experience of division,” he wrote in the guest book during his meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung.
“I also wish for the people of Korea what we are fortunate to experience in Germany: unity in freedom.”
North Korea is a largely isolated dictatorship ruled by Kim Jong Un, while the South is a democracy that has close ties with the West.
The two Koreas technically remain at war since a truce ended hostilities.
Merz is set to visit the demilitarized zone (DMZ), which divides the two countries, on Friday.
The German chancellor’s visit to South Korea is the last stop on his tour of Asia this week, which has also seen him visit Japan and Singapore.
https://p.dw.com/p/5Onz1Skip next section IN DEPTH: Bayern Munich coach’s hospital stay highlights need for better support10/29/2026October 29, 2026
IN DEPTH: Bayern Munich coach’s hospital stay highlights need for better support
Bayern Munich head coach Vincent Kompany has just returned home from the hospital, admitting that he hadn’t listened to his body, “and then at some point, my body just said, ‘Enough is enough!’”
Read our full report on Kompany’s health and the need for better support for coaches at the highest level of sport here.
https://p.dw.com/p/5Oo5sSkip next section WATCH: Why big automakers are losing China10/29/2026October 29, 2026
WATCH: Why big automakers are losing China
They were once top sellers in China. Now the likes of Volkswagen, Toyota and Honda are losing ground to a new generation of Chinese carmakers. What happened?
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https://p.dw.com/p/5Onz0Skip next section VW reports 3rd quarter losses of €5.8 billion10/29/2026October 29, 2026
VW reports 3rd quarter losses of €5.8 billion
Volkswagen (VW) reported third quarter losses of €5.8 billion ($6.5 billion) on Thursday, as it faces rising competition from China.
Germany’s biggest car maker had reported a loss of just over €1.07 billion in the same period last year.
Volkswagen, like other car makers, has struggled to keep pace with fierce competition from China, the world’s biggest car market. VW has also struggled with the transition to electric vehicles and with declining demand.
Volkswagen last month warned that its 10-brand group, which includes makers such as Audi, Seat and Skoda, was facing a 10-billion-euro hit to its annual profits.
The most significant hit came from Porsche, Volkswagen’s luxury sports car and SUV subsidiary. Porsche, which was once a major driver of profits for the VW group, was also one of the main factors behind VW’s quarterly losses in 2025.
The luxury brand has been hit by a sales slump in China, US tariff policy and its electric vehicle strategy.
VW announced this year that it plans to cut over 100,000 jobs across the group by the end of the decade as it tries to reduce costs. It announced on Thursday that its restructuring would cost the company 31 billion euros.
The company is considering or has decided to shut down multiple German factories — including plants in Zwickau, Emden, Hanover, and Neckarsulm.
“What matters now is swift and consistent implementation,” Arno Antlitz, VW’s chief financial officer said in a statement. “We cannot lose any time and need to act quickly and decisively.”
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https://p.dw.com/p/5Ont4Skip next section Welcome to our coverage10/29/2026October 29, 2026
Welcome to our coverage
Guten Morgen from the DW newsroom in Bonn on the banks of the Rhine, which is bathed in autumnal hues and fog as we near the end of October.
We open today’s coverage of Germany with the news that Volkswagen’s recent struggles have translated into huge losses.
The country’s largest auto manufacturer, which has already announced job cuts of 100,000 by the end of the decade, reported third quarter losses of nearly 6 billion euro.
On the other side of the world, Chancellor Friedrich Merz is concluding his tour of East Asia with a visit to South Korea, while President Frank-Walter Steinmeier continues his visit to China.
Stay tuned as we bring you more on those and other stories making headlines in Germany on Thursday.
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