Volkswagen is trying to implement a comprehensive cost-cutting programme with up to 100,000 job losses, double the amount previously planned, by 2030 and the potential contraction or closure of several plants.
Volkswagen is trying to implement a comprehensive cost-cutting programme with up to 100,000 job losses, double the amount previously planned, by 2030 and the potential contraction or closure of several plants.
China is not the threat since Germany can always impose tariffs. As the article points out, benefits to workers are too high. Germany must explore other industries besides car manufacturing. This is where it’s important for Germany to encourage immigrants with talent to study and work there. The AfD will exploit the warnings of job collapse to gain power. Hitler rose to power when the democratic Weimar Republic couldn’t control inflation.
Tariffs won’t help because while they’re losing across the board, the most important market for VW, and also the one with the most drastic losses, is not Germany but China. They bet a lot on expansion into China and once reached ~20% market share there, but that has since dropped to half. For BEV specifically it’s abysmal, so the outlook is also bad: BEV has rapidly risen to nearly 60% of the Chinese retail market but VW’s share is in the low single digits.
This! Our industry is far too dependent on the car market. Car ownership is going down and people don’t need to buy new cars all the time. The market is saturated. When I look around, everybody is driving a relatively new car that won’t have to be replaced for years. It’s just not a growth industry - and by the love of god, it shouldn’t be one.
Germany could explore other ways of making money such as tourism and film making. Encouraging foreign students to study in Germany would bring tuition money.
Or simply other technologies. Instead of cars, heat pumps and ACs, both in high demand. Electrolysers for converting excess renewable energy into H2. Electric bikes. Electronic chips. Drones. Whatever.