New Delhi, June 26 -- WOLFSBURG - Four German factories would go dark. One hundred thousand jobs would disappear. And the company contemplating that arithmetic is the same one that signed a formal agreement with its union two years ago promising not to close a single German plant this decade.

Germany's Manager Magazin reported Friday that Volkswagen AG Chief Executive Oliver Blume and Chief Financial Officer Arno Antlitz are driving plans to eliminate as many as 100,000 positions across the group and cease production at facilities in Hanover, Zwickau, Emden, and at Audi's Neckarsulm site, a restructuring the magazine described, citing people familiar with the matter, as the most sweeping in the company's 89-year history.

A Volkswagen sp...