The race for electrification is shaking up Volkswagen. According to the German media Handelsblatt, Herbert Diess, boss of the brand, did not hesitate to mention “his fears for the future of the company” during a meeting of the supervisory board, which took place at the end of September.
According to Handelsblatt, Herbet Diess warned about VW’s too high operating costs in the face of competition, including Tesla, which is in the process of finalizing its European plant, located in Berlin. So much so that with a shock treatment, “the restructuring of Volkswagen could threaten one in four positions at the VW brand” and “a loss of up to 30,000 jobs is possible”.
An AFP source qualified this, however, explaining that Herbert Diess exposed “speculation on an extreme scenario”. The boss would thus have stressed the importance of making the necessary changes quickly to avoid such a consequence. Moreover, a spokesperson for Herbert Diess reacted: “In general, a loss of 30,000 jobs is absurd”.
One of the priority projects is the overhaul of the Wolfsburg plant, linked to the launch of the Trinity project, a new generation of electric vehicles, which will first give rise to a large, rather top-of-the-range sedan. VW’s restructuring will be on the agenda for a works council meeting on November 12.
