A logo of German car maker Volkswagen (VW) is pictured at a car dealer in Hamm, western Germany on May 25, 2020. (Photo: AFP)

Carmaker Volkswagen will shed up to 5,000 jobs between now and the end of 2023 as part of cost-cutting to finance its transition to electric vehicles, the company said in a statement Sunday.

Up to 900 employees would opt for an early retirement scheme while others would leave the company as part of a gradual halting of their activities, it said.

It did not give a precise figure for those employees, saying only that it would be in the lower end of a "four-digit number", an expression usually used to mean between 2,000 to 4,000.