cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/21371247
German carmaker warns of stagnation in the European sector amid news of deeper-than-expected action
The German carmaker Volkswagen is planning to shut at least three factories in its home country, lay off thousands of workers and cut pay by 10%, according to the company’s union.
The deeper-than-expected cuts come as the company faces weak sales and slow expansion in the electric vehicle (EV) sector amid tough competition from Chinese manufacturers.
“The board wants to close at least three factories in Germany,” the works council chief, Daniela Cavallo, told employees at VW’s headquarters in Wolfsburg on Monday. Its remaining manufacturing sites will reduce capacity, she said, citing information provided by management.
As Europe’s top economy suffers a crisis in manufacturing and fears of mass unemployment, VW is aiming for a fundamental restructuring to cut costs. It had initially warned last month that it had the equivalent of two factories of extra capacity in Germany.
So what is going on really? On the one hand we have this action in Germany. What has caused it in the first place?
Second, how does this factor in with EV? Meaning, how is the entire industry doing so poorly when we are in the cusp of EV world and battery tech and smart grids.
So frustrating. I kind of want a general overview. For example I’m aware of the EV pressure with China for example. But then with the changes is regulatory, how haven’t companies like Volkswagen not side-stepped to adapt?
I’m probably oversimplifying, don’t throw things. I’m trying to grasp the big picture.
For VW a lot of it is management failure. Instead of investing more into EVs and creating a car for the masses they held onto non-EVs mostly and then are surprised when cheaper vars (often from China) sell more.
Additionally VW had a dividend payout of 4,5 billion euro earlier this year (something that is not mandatory) … and then noticed a couple of months later that they are missing 5 billion euro in their budget, leading to the news above.
If the controlling shareholders and board can approve spending money they don’t have on a dividend, they should be held personally liable and fined for that 4.5 B.
We’re taught that corporate criminals can act with impunity behind the liability shield of an LLC, but it is only this way because the rich write the laws, and the people just accept it.
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I dunno if you follow car stuff much. Chip shortage during COVID affected how many cars could be made. Manufacturers saved them for high margin high value cars. Already there is a smaller market for them. Plus, charging infrastructure in some countries is behind to the point where a lot of people are sticking to petrol. That’s the wider picture.
On top of that VW made a really good EV platform and then screwed it up with a cheap interior, glitchy software, and frustrating laggy haptic buttons everywhere on cars that weren’t exactly cheap. Why bother with that when you can get a Kia Niro (as an example) with more features, a massive warranty, more range, better interior for the same or less money?
As a regular driver of a range of different EV through carsharing: Yes, VW are infuriatingly bad at controls, buttons and the likes.
It may sound petty but it’s really impacting driving negatively.
A car is a box on wheels that I only interact with through its controls. It ain’t petty to demand that those controls respond quickly and reliably.