It implies savings of 10 billion euros
Volkswagen does not consider itself competitive. The company's CEO, Thomas Schäfer, personally announced this at a staff meeting.
Due to many of our pre-existing structures, processes and high costs, we are no longer competitive as the Volkswagen brand.
Of course, this statement does not mean that the company has decided to leave the market or close its business. In this case, Schäfer thus explained, among other things, the launch of a savings program, which implies the release of 10 billion euros and will include, among other things, cuts. Quite possibly quite large-scale.
True, the company had previously said that it would not just fire people. The German auto giant will take advantage of demographic data and begin layoffs only in 2029. Until then, the company is going to limit itself to agreements on partial or early retirement for those employees for whom this will be possible. And in general, the company says that most of those 10 billion euros will be saved not through layoffs.
The company is currently in talks with its works council over a cost-cutting scheme for the Volkswagen brand. It is also part of a larger initiative across the Volkswagen Group to cut costs in an effort to make the transition to electric vehicles more efficient.