Volkswagen is upheaval, the employees blown a rough wind in the face. Shortly before Christmas, they agreed to a “Future Volkswagen” plan that provides for the reduction of 35,000 jobs in this country. “We continued to get ourselves in a competition form,” says Group boss Oliver Blume with a view to the past year: “Made in Germany at competitive prices is possible.” Blume speaks a lot of self -confidence and mobility, of the will to change. His colleague Arno Antlitz from the finance department names the prerequisites for future success: “The actual work is now beginning. We have to achieve 4 billion euros in cost effects. ” It must be possible to build more cars with fewer staff. In this year, Volkswagen expects a paragraph, for example, at the recently 3.5 percent shrunk level of nine million vehicles. A slight increase in Europe and the USA will be calculated and continues to decline in China. Antlitz also considers the market in India promising. They are in conversations with potential partners to get better there. In addition to the VW brand, Porsche and Audi, Skoda and Seat also belong to the Vol. In the USA, Volkswagen is putting great expectations in the Scout brand, which has already received 80,000 pre-orders for an electric pickup and an SUV model. Overall, there were positive signals in the paragraph in January and February, the CFO reported. “The combustion cars carry us until well into the 2030s” on the stock exchange, the spirit of optimism from the Autostadt in Wolfsburg, where the Volkswagen board members presented the business figures for the previous year and their expectations. After the course of the Volkswagen preference share had increased from 87 to 109 euros since the beginning of the year, the course increased again by three percent to just under 112 euros in a slightly positive stock market environment on Tuesday. The bad result of the past year, in which the profit after taxes is sagged by almost 31 percent to 12.4 billion euros, apparently expected investors. In the event of a constant distribution rate, this also means a decline in the dividend by almost a third from 9 euros to 6.30 euros per ordinary share (and 6 cents more per preferred share). The largest Volkswagen shareholder is the Porsche SE with almost 32 percent of the capital. The company, which was also listed, but also dominated by the Porsche and Piëch families, had announced on Friday to reduce the book value of the Volkswagen share in the balance sheet by 19.9 billion euros. The capital market was partly criticized when the strategy was initiated not only in electromobility three or four years ago, but also in a last generation of combustion vehicles, CEO Blume remembered. This was a high double burden, but which now pays off: “The combustion cars carry us well into the 2030s.” “We cannot be satisfied with this outlook”, however, the corresponding advance payment is now reduced. In the area of electromobility, Volkswagen wants to benefit from partnerships – for example with Rivian in the USA or with X Peng in China. At the same time, the expansion of battery cell production should be “adapted to the market environment”, i.e. in view of the slow development in Europe, should be slowed down. Overall, Volkswagen wants to spend less for capacities, technology and software. While an investment volume of 180 billion euros was still planned in the five -year period by 2028, it is now only 165 billion euros from 2025 to 2029. External content activate Fast success of the transformation does not promise Volkswagen. The sales of almost 325 billion euros recently could increase by 5 percent this year, the forecast. The operational return is likely to reach between 5.5 and 6.5 percent – after 5.9 percent return on sales last year. “We cannot be satisfied with this outlook,” warned Antlitz. Not included in this forecast are external circumstances, the effect of which is not yet clear, although it could be significant. It must be expected that the American President Donald Trump truthful his plans to request up to 25 percent inches from Mexico and Canada from April. Volkswagen has significant production capacities in Mexico, and a battery cell factory is currently being built in Canada. The matter is complex, Volkswagen boss Blume admitted that arguments would be presented, such as the great presence in the USA. More on the subject of further advertisements, the relief from the EU should have a positive effect on the EU in connection with foreseeable exhaust gas limit values. If the car manufacturers now had a softer transition by 2027 for reaching the CO2 goals, this was positive, explained Blume, explaining the state of the discussion: Overall, the savings goal for the exhaust gases would remain unchanged. Interest representatives of the auto industry recently increased the pressure on Brussels and Berlin to adapt the regulation, which would have meant high fines for many manufacturers. The future federal government could make a contribution to promoting electromobility, CEO Blume made it clear. He suggests that the purchase of a electricity must be deducted from wage tax as easily as a craftsman calculation. Asked about the possibilities of how the group could contribute, Blume said that there are no concrete conversations yet, but there have also been vehicle construction in this area in the past. “You have to look at that. In any case, we are available. ” Since Volkswagen tightens the previous factory structures, overcapacity in Germany is foreseeable. Therefore, there have been speculation for weeks that the work in Osnabrück could be sold to an armaments manufacturer. Blume said nothing about that. He explicitly denied that there are talks with Chinese companies that are interested in locations in Europe.4800 euros premium door The VW brand’s employees is not yet immediately noticeable. The collective bargaining employees have to temporarily adjust to lower bonus payments, but currently receive a bonus of almost 4800 euros, after 4735 euros in the previous year. Around 120,000 employees get the bonus. The Volkswagen Group counted a total of 683,000 employees on average. Group chief Oliver Blume, who is also the CEO of the Porsche subsidiary in Personion, earned 10.35 million euros last year after 9.7 million euros a year. The remuneration of the entire group is 40 million euros. All board members should forego 11 percent of their remuneration in this and next year and thus make their contribution to the austerity course at VW.
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