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Volkswagen planning to cut up to 100.000 jobs globally

bbc.com

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Re: Volkswagen planning to cut up to 100.000 jobs globally

#11

Post by alephnerd »

verdverm wrote: post #3
toomuchtodo wrote: post #2

Weak that they’re not partnering with CATL or Panasonic to build stationary storage with excess manufacturing capacity.

They are switching some lines to building military vehicles aiui

> switching some lines to building military

It got vetoed by Qatar (their SWF owns 17% of all voting shares in Volkswagen) because that would have meant working with Israeli companies [0] despite Germany being dependent on the Israeli Arrow system [1] to counter Russian systems.

Now that factory (Osnabrueck) is one of the factories on the chopping block.

And this is why Volkswagen is going to be a slow moving train crash - Lower Saxony, the Qatari royal family, the Pötsch/Porsche family, and IG Metall are not aligned.

[0] - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-10/qatar-blo...

[1] - https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/germany-d...

Re: Volkswagen planning to cut up to 100.000 jobs globally

#12

Post by lifestyleguru »

TacticalCoder wrote: post #5
shaism wrote: post #4

It is unfortunate for the employees but it is necessary, and hopefully also a wake up call for other German companies and the government. It’s time for leaner structures, smaller teams, faster decisions, and shorter development cycles. Volkswagen, like no other company, symbolizes the lethargy of the German economy and business environment. Hopefully, the seven years with barely any economic growth will end soon.

> Volkswagen, like no other company, symbolizes the lethargy of the German economy and business environment A car development cycle is/was seven years in Germany. And that was totally fine. When the "Golf 7" comes up, the "Golf 8" doesn't come out only 2 years after. What happened is the EU (and Germany in particular) left only two development cycles to the biggest industry in Germany (and hence the biggest industry…

> Of course the shit hit the fan: Russia attacked Ukraine and everything turned to shit.

When Russia attacked Ukraine in 2014 absolutely nothing happened. Covid showed that Europe is eating boogers with their pants down, so both Trump and Putin decided to go on the rampage.

Re: Volkswagen planning to cut up to 100.000 jobs globally

#13

Post by lifestyleguru »

12958715 wrote: post #10

People have no money for cars. Maybe boomers whose health insurance you subsidize and whose overpriced apartments you rent can still afford one. Everyone else struggles with health insurance up more than 100% in 10 years, Döner up 100% in 6 years, electricity costs etc. But we feel good about the "rules based international order", which only the EU follows right now, dictated by public servants with inflation-indexed…

I don't think cars have ever been so unexciting. As long as regulations were improving security it was fine, but in recent years they only push for more control and surveillance. Still despite the byzantine regulations they failed to address e.g. the obnoxious blinding headlights.

Then yeah, rich boomers from rich EU countries are leaving scorched earth to everyone except their immediate family.

Re: Volkswagen planning to cut up to 100.000 jobs globally

#14

Post by _s_a_m_ »

A German economist explained on Insta that the main reason they are doing this is because Moody's making politics and reduced VWs rating, and VW is one of the largest credit holders in Europe and now they have been forced to act and do something about this unplanned rating change which will make loans expensive for them, without actually being a concrete automotive related issue in the first place.

Re: Volkswagen planning to cut up to 100.000 jobs globally

#15

Post by LarsDu88 »

tangenter wrote: post #6

VW is a massive casualty, but the future of automotive is currently a cutthroat war between BYD and Tesla. Everyone else is, at best, a second tier competitor. Auto industry/dealerships for trad cars is not looking good.

You're confusing Tesla for like 10 other Chinese brands. Tesla too is falling behind, particularly when it comes to price.

BYD may very well be pulling ahead on battery tech and vertical integration right now.

In a few years Tesla's primary moat will be political

Re: Volkswagen planning to cut up to 100.000 jobs globally

#16

Post by AlotOfReading »

tangenter wrote: post #6

VW is a massive casualty, but the future of automotive is currently a cutthroat war between BYD and Tesla. Everyone else is, at best, a second tier competitor. Auto industry/dealerships for trad cars is not looking good.

I don't see how Tesla is a serious competitor in that matchup. Their sales have been declining for two years, and Chinese OEMs are clearly on the path to complete dominance in most foreign markets.

In the US market, I think Hyundai (and to a much lesser extent Kia) is probably the most interesting OEM. EV sales that aren't declining, the highest American-made percentage vehicles (relevant given recent policy changes), a manufacturing partnership with Waymo, widespread consumer awareness, and relatively lower prices than their competitors. It'd be nice if they provided a better repair situation than Tesla, but that's the current industry I guess.

Re: Volkswagen planning to cut up to 100.000 jobs globally

#17

Post by petre »

TacticalCoder wrote: post #5
shaism wrote: post #4

It is unfortunate for the employees but it is necessary, and hopefully also a wake up call for other German companies and the government. It’s time for leaner structures, smaller teams, faster decisions, and shorter development cycles. Volkswagen, like no other company, symbolizes the lethargy of the German economy and business environment. Hopefully, the seven years with barely any economic growth will end soon.

> Volkswagen, like no other company, symbolizes the lethargy of the German economy and business environment A car development cycle is/was seven years in Germany. And that was totally fine. When the "Golf 7" comes up, the "Golf 8" doesn't come out only 2 years after. What happened is the EU (and Germany in particular) left only two development cycles to the biggest industry in Germany (and hence the biggest industry…

You drive your Audi, BMW, Porsche. Mercedes. I'm gonna drive a Toyota or a Honda since I don't like costly repairs, subscription chair heaters or getting screwed over.

Re: Volkswagen planning to cut up to 100.000 jobs globally

#18

Post by alephnerd »

_s_a_m_ wrote: post #14

A German economist explained on Insta that the main reason they are doing this is because Moody's making politics and reduced VWs rating, and VW is one of the largest credit holders in Europe and now they have been forced to act and do something about this unplanned rating change which will make loans expensive for them, without actually being a concrete automotive related issue in the first place.

> because Moody's making politics and reduced VWs rating...

> without actually being a concrete automotive related issue in the first place...

VW's market share in China (it's largest market) has collapsed - in 20 years it went from around 20% of all cars in China to 10% and current deliveries this year in China have fallen by 36%. This is a huge fall for a company whose Jetta was literally China's Model T.

VW Group has been dependent on China, much of Europe, and the US for almost 2 decades. It lost the American market in the 2010s when Diesel-gate pushed it's American ICP to Toyota, Nissan, and Tesla and it lost it's Chinese marketshare when China began the NEV policy back in the 2010s. And European car sales haven't recovered to pre-COVID amounts.

It isn't entirely an automotive issue, but it is very much a management issue. And nothing can be done about it - voting share is split between Lower Saxony, the Qatari royal family (17% voting share), the Porsche family, and IG Metall. Given the degree of state ownership in VW, it'll make GM's collapse look like a cakewalk.

Re: Volkswagen planning to cut up to 100.000 jobs globally

#19

Post by the_real_cher »

AlotOfReading wrote: post #16
tangenter wrote: post #6

VW is a massive casualty, but the future of automotive is currently a cutthroat war between BYD and Tesla. Everyone else is, at best, a second tier competitor. Auto industry/dealerships for trad cars is not looking good.

I don't see how Tesla is a serious competitor in that matchup. Their sales have been declining for two years, and Chinese OEMs are clearly on the path to complete dominance in most foreign markets. In the US market, I think Hyundai (and to a much lesser extent Kia) is probably the most interesting OEM. EV sales that aren't declining, the highest American-made percentage vehicles (relevant given recent policy changes)…

2027 is going to change this sitnificantly.

Toyota is releasing a full EV highlander, Honda is releasing the 0 series, Kia has some new EVs coming out.

Next year is going to be a huge EV shift.

Tesla is screwed.

Re: Volkswagen planning to cut up to 100.000 jobs globally

#20

Post by fnordian_slip »

mk89 wrote: post #9
TacticalCoder wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Volkswagen, like no other company, symbolizes the lethargy of the German economy and business environment A car development cycle is/was seven years in Germany. And that was totally fine. When the "Golf 7" comes up, the "Golf 8" doesn't come out only 2 years after. What happened is the EU (and Germany in particular) left only two development cycles to the biggest industry in Germany (and hence the biggest industry…

EU didn't close nuclear plants, not sure what you're talking about. This is a choice some countries did in the past due to Chernobyl and Fukushima. The "fatality" was performed successfully by the Greens.

Why does this obvious falsehood get repeated so much on hn Everyone can look up what the CDU did, it's not like they did it in secret.

It's bad enough that nuclear proponents ignore the massive cost of nuclear compared to renewables once you factor in building costs, insurance and storage imho. But then to pretend like the conservatives didn't have a choice but to bungle the nuclear exit really is too much.

The CDU never listened to the greens when it came to not killing the solar industry and serving it to China on a golden platter. Or not killing our rail infrastructure by continually delaying maintenance so that we would have to do much more costly repairs later.

But in this instance, they do, and do it in a way that is a gift to the energy companies, and instead of noticing the obvious corruption at play, people still blame the greens.

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