2023-07-23 18:30:15
The management at the VW headquarters in Wolfsburg has no answers to some urgent questions. Image: EPA
Europe’s largest car company is struggling with more problems than it has in a long time: relegation battle in China, economic weakness, low share price – can VW turn the tide?
The works council at the Volkswagen plant in Emden actually wanted to throw a party two weeks ago. Production of the electric sedan ID.7 has started at the location in the East Frisian port city, where it is seen as a beacon of hope. At a “celebration” in Hall 20, according to the idea, Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD) should officially start series production on July 10th. But then the plan collapsed. The demand for e-cars is collapsing, the ID.7 is not producing the quantities hoped for. One shift is lost and several hundred temporary workers have to go. Too much bad news for the prime minister: the ceremony was quietly canceled.
The episode says a lot about the state of Europe’s largest car company VW. Lower Saxony holds 20 percent of its ordinary shares. If a new model starts up in plants in the state without a visit from the Hanover State Chancellery, something must be terribly wrong – and it is. The recession in large parts of Europe is depressing new orders. At locations like Emden, utilization is falling. At the same time, the management at the Wolfsburg headquarters cannot find any answers to pressing questions, from the loss of market share in China to the low share price, which is causing the capital market to rage. “The pressure is coming from all sides at the moment,” says one manager, summing up the situation.
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