The Bulli, a piece of VW history
The production of VW transporters has a long tradition in Germany. Now the employees in Hanover are worried about their jobs.
DusseldorfVolkswagen and Ford have come up with a big word for what they want to roll up the light commercial vehicle business in the coming years. “Cyclone” is the name of the planned cooperation with vans and small delivery vehicles. Volkswagen and Ford want to start a storm in the commercial vehicle business together – and put the competitors under considerable pressure.
At the moment, however, the planned joint project is causing storm and unrest, especially in Hanover, in Volkswagen’s large van plant. More than 14,000 employees want to know how the Cooperation with Ford concrete effect. There, where so far every year almost 200,000 vans and about 25,000 pick-ups of the type “Amarok” are produced.
The brand Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles (VWN) is not only the cooperation with Ford in the house. On September 1, a new boss will appear in Hanover: Thomas Sedran, for a short time OpelChief Executive Officer and, since autumn 2015, Volkswagen’s top corporate strategist at the Wolfsburg headquarters. The fact that Sedran is moving to Hanover was anything but a surprise: he had negotiated in advance important points of the planned cooperation project with Ford.
This week, Sedran presented itself for the first time in front of his new team at a company meeting – not just with good news. Because actually the brand VWN does not have to hide: Last year, the Hanoverian subsidiary had a decent result. 850 million euros stood for an operating return of 7.2 percent. By comparison, the car brand Volkswagen was just 4.1 percent.
Current club events
Tuesday, 04.09.18, 19:00 Cologne: Townhall meeting with Henriette Reker
Wednesday, 05.09.18, 18:30 Hamburg: WiWo Club workshop talk at “Wer liefert was”
Thursday, 06.09.18, 09:00 Iserlohn: Campus Symposium (6 and 7 September)
Sunday, 09.09.18, 18:00 Cologne: Literaturhaus Köln: Akwaeke Emezi with her debut novel “Süßwasser”
Monday, 10.09.18, 12:30 Berlin: Club Talk “Goodbye EU”
Thursday, 13.09.18, 19:00 Dusseldorf: Düsseldorfer Terrassengespräch
Thomas Sedran: From the General Secretariat of the CEO to the head of VW Commercial Vehicles
Sedran hinted that there are major changes in Hanover. VW still lacked the electric drives at the moment, also had the subsidiary to adjust to more stringent emission requirements. At present, it is not clear where Volkswagen will produce the new electric bus ID Buzz. Hannover would actually be an obvious location within the Volkswagen Group. But Sedran warned that the plant could go out in the north of Hanover empty. “We are in the cost comparison currently more expensive than the competing locations,” said the new VWN boss. He wanted to make the factory sustainable again – with more efficiency and higher productivity.
The reaction on the part of the employee suggested that there might be a conflict in the Volkswagen commercial vehicle brand. “We also want success,” said the works council chairman Bertina Murkovic, “but not so that the money comes out again to the ears, but so that future generations can work here.”
The keyword for a possible conflict is called Ford. The new VWN boss Sedran had previously announced which vehicle types should include the planned cooperation. The Wolfsburg-based manufacturer and the US car manufacturer plan to jointly produce city delivery vehicles (“VW Caddy”), vans and pick-ups.
Volkswagen and Ford can significantly reduce their production costs per car if they increase the number of units together and use identical parts. VW CEO Herbert Diess Already announced in early August that he expects annual synergy effects of about 400 million euros. Details should be announced by the end of the year. Internally, the key points are expected to be known by the end of September.
One point makes for particular unrest in Hanover. According to group sources, substantial parts of the van production could be relocated to the Turkish Ford plant near Istanbul in the middle of the next decade. Should the Volkswagen Group decide to do so, it would have to expect strong resistance on the part of the employees.
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The production of transporters is as closely connected with Hanover as Wolfsburg’s parent plant with the Golf. The Bulli, produced as a real utility vehicle for craftsmen or as a luxuriously equipped large-capacity car, stands for the identity of the factory. Almost 200,000 vans produced per year ensure long-term capacity utilization – so employment is guaranteed.
With the factories in Emden and in Osnabrück there are already two German VW plants, in which a permanent capacity utilization is no longer guaranteed. The Passat factory in Ostfriesland is currently only two-thirds full, the workforce there is hoping for another model. The factory in Osnabrück, formerly Karmann, lives on individual orders from other Volkswagen Group brands. Exactly this fate should be avoided employee representatives in Hanover: The brand VW Nutzfahrzeuge should retain their independence and their own products.
The unanswered questions in connection with the Ford cooperation meanwhile cause concern in the VW supervisory board as well. Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD), who represents the country in the highest control body of the car company, has already spoken up. In a letter to VW boss Herbert Diess, he points out that the plant in Hanover must be sufficiently busy.
“There are still no decisions to cooperate with Ford,” said a company spokesman on Friday. In the coming weeks, the topic should definitely come on the agenda. Until November, the Group and the works council in Wolfsburg and Hanover are negotiating the most important investment projects of the coming years. Volkswagen could face a hot autumn.