BERLIN (Reuters) - Volkswagen plans to lay off 1,600 staff at its Cariad software unit by the end of the year, the Handelsblatt business daily reported on Tuesday, citing company sources.

The layoffs, impacting almost 30% of the 5,900 people employed at Cariad, are to mainly take place via redundancy programmes, the report added.

Handelsblatt said the company confirmed the information.

(Writing by Rachel More; Editing by Ludwig Burger)