Freight train with VW vehicles
Possible effects of the WLPT test procedure are taken into account in the business outlook for 2018, says the carmaker.
HamburgVolkswagen Due to the conversion to the new exhaust gas measurement cycles, there are delays in the production and delivery of hundreds of thousands of vehicles. “We anticipate WLTP in the second half of 2018 due to the introduction of the new WLTP Volkswagen Group with an effect of about 200,000 to 250,000 vehicles, which we will build later than originally planned, “said the Wolfsburg on Friday.
Work is underway on further measures to minimize the impact on production. “Nevertheless, it can not be ruled out that there will be temporary production bottlenecks and that there will be effects on our deliveries.” Overall, however, the Group confirmed the targets set for 2018.
Volkswagen did not comment on the costs. The “mirror” reported in advance, for the group meant the late delivery and the fact that some new cars might not even reach dealers, a billion risk.
The new test cycle WLTP
In doing so, the news magazine relied on statements from group sources that estimated possible losses compared to the original production and sales planning on a medium six-digit number of vehicles.
Current club events
Volkswagen pointed out that the risk has already been explicitly mentioned by the new WLTP tests and that potential effects in the 2018 business outlook have been taken into account. “Financial effects (working capital) could result from an accumulation of inventories in the first half of the year.” In addition, effects of temporary restrictions on the model mix are possible because temporarily not all variants may be available.
Group CEO Herbert Diess had already prepared the VW workforce on Thursday for production losses in the third quarter. The new cars should be delivered gradually as soon as they have passed the new tests. Nevertheless, many vehicles could not roll to the dealers and have to be stored, because the test stands are not sufficient.
New standard WLTP: New EU-test procedure alerts the automotive industry – it threatens failures in the production
So that the parking spaces do not overflow, VW wants to insert so-called closing days at the Wolfsburg main plant after the factory holidays (July 7-27) until the end of September, during which production is suspended. How these days will be distributed, will be discussed in the next few days with the works council. In Wolfsburg, up to 4000 vehicles a day roll off the production lines at peak times.
Several manufacturers have problems with the stricter exhaust gas test, which is valid from 1 September, In the new vehicle registration method, CO2 emissions are no longer measured on a test bench as they are today, but also on the road.
Porsche had therefore already reported delays in sales: “The short time by one year early EU deadlines for WLTP certification burden us enormously,” says Porsche CEO Oliver Blume Handelsblatt.
BMW reiterated, however, that the impact was limited. “Scheduled supply interruptions are limited to a few, lower-volume models.” Therefore, the sales targets remained unaffected. Daimler explained that there are no significant production losses due to the switch to WLTP and the resulting increase in certification costs.
*/
]]>
The most important news every morning in your inbox.