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.

Workers at nine Volkswagen car and component plants across Germany started two-hour strikes on Monday, bringing assembly lines to a halt as labour and management clash over the future of Europe's biggest carmaker.

Volkswagen workers launched rolling two-hour strikes Monday at nine plants across Germany to underscore their resistance to pay cuts and factory closures the company says are necessary to cope with a slack European auto market.