Employees staged warning strikes in protest against the German carmaker’s plans for potential factory closures and sweeping cuts to jobs and pay.

Volkswagen has threatened to close plants in Germany for the first time in its 87-year history to reduce costs and boost profit.

A day-long wave of strikes at nearly all of carmaker Volkswagen's plants across Germany ended early on Tuesday morning, with unions saying that nearly 100,000 VW factory workers had taken part in the protests.