Just posted this on a different thread but ties into the same issue
It’s a rare corporate governance special in today’s Sustainable Switch as we rev up our engines and drive into the Volkswagen saga.
So, what’s been going on with the German carmaker?
Well, the auto giant is weighing its first ever plant closures in Germany and its powerful unions are ready for a fight.
Arno Antlitz, chief financial officer and chief operating officer at Volkswagen Group, said in a speech to staff at its Wolfsburg headquarters that the carmaker has "one, maybe two" years to turn its main car brand around.
Heckled with shouts of "Auf Wiedersehen" – German for 'goodbye' – Antlitz told a gathering of 25,000 workers that they needed to work with management in cutting spending to
help the brand survive the shift to electric cars.
He told the meeting at Volkswagen's Wolfsburg headquarters that Europe's car market had shrunk after the pandemic and the company was facing a shortfall in demand of about 500,000 cars, equivalent to about two plants.
"The market is just not there," he said according to excerpts of his speech, adding he did not expect sales to recover.
www.autocar.co.uk
