VW warns it has ‘a year, maybe two’ to adapt to lower demandGerman carmaker Volkswagen has warned its staff that it has “one, maybe two” years to cut its spending and adjust its output to lower demand, as it ponders shutting factories in Germany for the first time.
At a briefing with staff this morning, VW warned that its main brand needs to make deep cost cuts if it is to succeed in the transition to electric cars.
Chief financial officer Arno Antlitz told workers, gathered at Volkswagen’s Wolfsburg headquarters:
“If we carry on like this, we won’t succeed in the transformation.
It is our joint responsibility to improve the cost efficiency of the German sites.”
Antlitz warned that Europe’s car market had shrunk after the pandemic and the company was facing a shortfall in demand of about 500,000 cars, equivalent to about two plants.
But the meeting was stormy – Reuters reports that staff whistled and shouted “Auf Wiedersehen” when Antlitz took to the stage.
Volkswagen’s general meeting in Wolfsburg, northern Germany, today Photograph: Moritz Frankenberg/AFP/Getty ImagesOn Monday, VW warned that it was considering shutting two German factories, in what would be the carmaker’s first closures ever in its home country.
VW’s problems show the difficulties traditional European carmakers are having in switching from profitable but polluting petrol and diesel cars to cleaner but currently less profitable electric vehicles.
VW’s unions, though, are resisting efforts to close plants in Germany.
Daniela Cavallo, head of Volkswagen’s works council, told workers at the carmaker’s main plant in Wolfsburg that management had failed to do its job and needed to come up with a plan without shutting factories.
Cavallo pledged:
“With me … there will be no plant closures in this country.”