Chairman: Volkswagen Group Needs To Cut Costs Quickly

According to him, Volkswagen must consider “all options” to bring about a turnaround. “The longer decisions are delayed, the greater the problems will become,” Pötsch warned. Porsche Automobil Holding, which is controlled by the Porsche-Piëch family and is the majority shareholder of Volkswagen, also declared that it fully supports the proposals of the Volkswagen board, including the elimination of tens of thousands of jobs.

Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume is trying to make the automaker faster and more efficient after years of software problems, rising costs, and declining profitability. However, his room for manoeuvre has become more limited after the company’s supervisory board, where German trade unions wield significant influence, rejected plans last month to close four German factories and cut up to 100,000 jobs.

The VW executive now plans to reduce annual production capacity in Europe by another 500,000 vehicles, eliminate management and administrative positions, and implement drastic cost cuts across model and equipment variants. Negotiations regarding the precise nature of the measures are still ongoing.

The billionaire Porsche-Piëch family is dependent on dividend payments from sports car manufacturers Porsche and Volkswagen. Those payments are under pressure due to declining profits at the two car companies. As a result, the family holding company is trying to become less dependent on the automotive industry and has established a fund for investments in the defence sector and purchased shares in companies such as the German rocket startup Isar Aerospace and drone manufacturer Quantum Systems.