- VW’s finance chief has warned that it only has “one, maybe two years” to turn the main Volkswagen brand around.
- Arno Antlitz spelled out the serious nature of VW’s situation to workers during a meeting at the firm’s Wolfsburg HQ, telling them sales wouldn’t return to pre-COVID levels.
- The automaker says it will have to close two plants – the first closures in its history – to cut costs in the face of a 500,000-unit reduction in annual demand.
Look past the cheery “Golf is 50!” celebrations and you’ll find plenty of glum faces at VW. The automaker is in trouble and today its chief bean counter spelled out exactly how much trouble. Arno Antlitz warned that VW only has “one, maybe two” years to turn the main Volkswagen brand around.
Volkswagen Group’s chief financial officer made the comments during a meeting at the firm’s Wolfsburg HQ attended by other suits including CEO Oliver Blume. Also present were hundreds of workers angry and concerned at hearing of VW’s plans revealed earlier in the week to close two plants to cut costs.
Related: VW Faces Union Fury Over Proposed Factory Closures
Antlitz explained to those present that the European car market had contracted since the pandemic and was unlikely to return to heady pre-Covid levels any time soon, Reuters reports. That drop in demand – and slower than anticipated EV take-up – means VW will sell around 500,000 fewer cars in a year, and gives it a maximum of two years to cut output and reduced costs to steady the ship.
Earlier this week VW informed its works council of plans to shutter two plants. They would be the first time the automaker has closed a factory in its entire history. One of the plants would be a carmaking facility and the other a parts plant, The Guardian says.
VW’s employees in Germany are naturally furious about the closure talk, and the IG Metall union has not ruled out strike action. But Europe isn’t the only region causing VW a headache.
“There are no more cheques coming from China,” Reuters reports CEO Oliver Blume telling those at the Wolfsburg meeting, a reference to VW’s struggles to compete with increasingly competent and well-priced rival EVs in the Asian country that was once a cash cow for Wolfsburg. But Blume insisted that a few job losses today could prevent a ton more tomorrow.
“The automotive industry has changed massively in the volume segment in just a few years,” Blume said, per The Guardian. “Together, we will implement appropriate measures to become more profitable. We are leading VW back to where the brand belongs – that is the responsibility of all of us.”