The wave of change sweeping the car giant Volkswagen is no longer just a gentle breeze, but a real tsunami. At a closed meeting in Berlin, the group’s management unveiled a massive savings plan that will hit every unit in the empire – from budget Skoda to luxury Bentley. The goal is clear but painful: reduce operating costs by a fifth within the next two years to save the brand’s profitability.
The situation is more than serious
For the first time in its almost 90-year history, Volkswagen has broken one of its biggest taboos by closing a production site in Germany. The victim is the iconic “Transparent Factory“ in Dresden – once a symbol of technological superiority, where the Phaeton was assembled and ID.3. But the bad news doesn't stop there. After the closure of the Nanjing plant in China, several other key capacities remain in question as the company struggles with the huge capacity that the market can no longer absorb.
Oliver Blume did not hold back his criticism of the current management, openly admitting that the German industry has missed the revolution in software and electric motors. “We have enjoyed our past successes for too long,“ he said, referring to the huge technological gap that currently separates Volkswagen from the new market leaders.
This new course towards “dieting“ will affect not only investments in new plants (such as the frozen Audi project in the US), but also thousands of employees. The 35,000 cuts already agreed by 2030 are only part of the puzzle. And while unions are fighting to keep the remaining factories in Germany, the shadow of economic uncertainty hangs over every workplace in Wolfsburg and beyond.
Volkswagen finds itself at a historic moment in which it must either reinvent itself or shrink beyond recognition. The time for grand gestures is over; now the order of the day is math and the relentless pursuit of efficiency.