[opinion] - hmmm…VW/Audi/Porsche _IS_ in trouble… [⚠️ ADMIN WARNING: NO INSULTING / POLITICALLY CHARGED POSTING]

[whitex]

I'm worried there will be bailouts needed by German government to keep VW afloat. Perhaps VW will truly become German people's car - company majority owned by the government and ran by the government.

For some reason, when I read about VW, Fry's Electronics comes to mind, another family ran business which the family ran into the ground, due to similar lack of common sense in the boardroom. Just like the Fry family, VW will blame it on the market and new technology of course.

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[bereader]

What's interesting is EVs are not going away - they clearly are the future. And the emissions restrictions in the EU are only going to get more stringent. VW is all but abandoning EVs, cutting labor, and hoping things improve by increasing price on exclusive ICE cars? Hope, as we all know, is not a strategy.

Meanwhile the Chinese are eating their lunch, producing better cars much faster with less people at far lower prices. And Porsche is doubling down on the past strategy. The most dangerous phrase in business is "we've always done it this way". This is not innovation for VW - it's desperation. I think we are seeing the demise of an historical company in realtime.

 

[Tooney]

VW workers to grill CEO on overhaul threatening 140,000 jobs, works council says
BERLIN, July 17 (Reuters) - The works council of German carmaker Volkswagen said ‌on Friday it will host extraordinary staff assemblies in August with CEO Oliver Blume, giving workers the opportunity to grill him on plans threatening up to 140,000 ⁠jobs.

Blume will attend meetings with staff at the company headquarters in Wolfsburg on August 25, and the plants in Emden and Zwickau on August 26, the works council said in an update to staff seen by Reuters.

Emden and Zwickau are two of ‌the ⁠four plants faced with closure in the coming years if no alternative is found.

Volkswagen could axe another 50,000 jobs on top of 50,000 job cuts ⁠already under way in order to become competitive on costs, Blume has said.

The threatened plant closures after 2030 ⁠endanger another 40,000 jobs, the works council said.
A Volkswagen spokesperson said there were ⁠currently no agreements and therefore declined to comment on the figure.

 

[Tooney]

Fear of humanoid robots spurs human workers to strike at Hyundai auto factory
Hyundai aims to deploy 25,000 Atlas robots starting with US factories in 2028.

 

[whitex]

Fear of humanoid robots spurs human workers to strike at Hyundai auto factory
Hyundai aims to deploy 25,000 Atlas robots starting with US factories in 2028.

I get the fear. However, what is the alternative? Should a car company just keep making uncompetitive products until the company declares bankruptcy and shuts off the lights? Are those worders willing to keep working for free making cars which nobody wants to buy (since there will not be money to pay them)?

 

[Tooney]

How VW's crisis could reshape the global car industry
Daniel
But I just want to touch on what Stefan Bratzel said. He's an expert in the car market, and he says about Volkswagen, unless VW establishes a radically new structure now, we will genuinely be discussing the liquidation of VW in 2 or 3 years time. Is this a do or die crisis for Volkswagen?

Manuel Vermeer
Yes. I I'm not sure whether it's 2 or 3 years or maybe five years. But what also, another colleague said that maybe BYD will take over Volkswagen in some years. I think this is a very realistic scenario and it doesn't take very, very drastic measures as they now want to do with more than 100,000 people. They're laying off.

Manuel Vermeer
It might be a do or die situation and then it would be die.

Daniel
And you mentioned that German companies in the past have been arrogant in their attitude towards Asia, to China, perhaps to India as well. Has VW been arrogant?

Manuel Vermeer
Oh, definitely. I mean, 20 years ago nobody talked about electric vehicles in Germany. The Chinese already had a five year plan. 20 years ago. They had written it down. You can read it in the Chinese net or in any newspapers. And China has a spokesman has been in China for more than 40 years. So they should have known.

Manuel Vermeer
But they just laughed off China and said, well we are so far nobody can build cars like we can. And that's arrogance. And this was not only 20 years ago, but still 15 years ago and ten years ago. So yes, a lot of mistakes done by the Volkswagen management. And now the employees have to suffer and are being laid off.

 

[Zcd1]

Pretending that the Chinese can't make quality cars today or that German cars are still inherently "better" will lead to the German auto industry's demise.

The same thing is true in the US, and if the tariff wall is removed, the US auto industry is also doomed.

Just like happened with electronics....

 

[gamueller]

I'm worried there will be bailouts needed by German government to keep VW afloat. Perhaps VW will truly become German people's car - company majority owned by the government and ran by the government.

For some reason, when I read about VW, Fry's Electronics comes to mind, another family ran business which the family ran into the ground, due to similar lack of common sense in the boardroom. Just like the Fry family, VW will blame it on the market and new technology of course.

I miss Fry's. Clueless salespeople, huge lines, trashed displays. It was bad at the end.

 

[bluesky]

Yeah but during the early days and heyday, it was awesome. Instant gratification compared to having to order stuff from places like NewEgg in those times. I frequented the Sunnyvale locations, Fremont and convenient Palo Alto locations.

 

[whitex]

I miss Fry's. Clueless salespeople, huge lines, trashed displays. It was bad at the end.

If you listen to the video I linked, you will know why.

Spoiler: What killed Fry's Eletronics

it wasn't the pandemic that killed Fry's, nor an inevitable death by e-commerce. It was all tightly family controlled management (which had some advantages, but ultimately killed the company).

 

[Tooney]

Volkswagen becomes Rivian’s top shareholder, displacing Amazon
VW Group’s increasing equity stake in Rivian, which has grown from 8.6% to 15.9% in less than two years, is tied to a joint venture with the EV startup. The Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies joint venture — officially formed in November 2024 — is focused on the development of electrical architecture and software.

And that stake will continue to grow, as long as Rivian continues to meet its end of the deal.

VW has committed to invest $5.8 billion into Rivian, capital that is unlocked as certain milestones are reached. The German automaker kicked off the deal with an initial $1 billion investment, followed by another $1 billion in mid-2025.

Rivian received another $1 billion last month after completing winter testing of the VW ID.EVERY1, a small four-door hatchback that will be the first vehicle under the joint venture to be equipped with its software and electrical architecture.

 

[chun]

Rivian received another $1 billion last month after completing winter testing of the VW ID.EVERY1, a small four-door hatchback that will be the first vehicle under the joint venture to be equipped with its software and electrical architecture.

3 years since, 3 billions later, and they barely finished winter testing for the first car.

Simulatenously, within 1 year, AUDI (written not circles), has developed in china, in-house, at a fraction of the cost, similar zonal arhitecture from 0, and released and shipped those cars all over Asia and I believe Australia.

VW leadership continues to be lost and waste money, at a dinousur pace of development, due to their instance of this arhitecture to work on their 12v ICE cars also... cars bound for the emission's regulation graveyard before they'll even see the light of day.

Rivian leadership must be giggling ear to ear, at this highway robbery that they are doing, of what seems to be a 5 year delivery timeline for something they already developed and surprassed with their own cars.

At this pace, by 2035, VW might have 3 whole models on this platform for sell in europe; and China will have about 3000 models for sell in europe on equivalent platforms.

 

[Tooney]

Future of the VW Osnabrück plant: Is the Iron Dome missile deal at risk of collapse?
Israeli defence company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems is reportedly considering setting up production of Tamir interceptor missiles for its Iron Dome air defence system in India, the Bild daily said citing company sources.

The move could mean that Volkswagen’s plant in Osnabrück may no longer be in the running as a production site for Iron Dome components.

In the spring, Volkswagen confirmed that it was in talks with defence industry companies about the future of the plant in Osnabrück.

According to Reuters, Rafael signed a memorandum of understanding for the site in April. The plan was to manufacture components for the Israeli missile defence system there.

Vehicle production at VW in Osnabrück is scheduled to end in 2027, meaning around 2,300 jobs depend on a follow-up solution.

 

[whitex]

https://www.reuters.com/business/wo...5000-job-cuts-german-media-report-2026-07-22/

BERLIN, July 22 (Reuters) - Porsche's (P911_p.DE), opens new tab supervisory board gave its blessing to the next round of restructuring measures on Wednesday, a company spokesperson said, with media reporting plans to double job cuts at the embattled German carmaker to ‌9,000.

 

[tigerbalm]

I agree that Taycan’s days as being its own model are very limited. Currently the 911 and the Taycan are both made at Zuffenhausen. Move Taycans away from Zuffenahusen and create greater assembly capability in the plant for more 911’s to built. Since Panamera sales (made at Leipzig) also are also marginal like the Taycan , they could move the 2030 Taycan’s into Leipzig, especially if it and the Panamera are then merged into a single model with three powertrains, e.g., ICE, hybrid, and BEV.

It is certainly interesting to see the "lumpy" capacity in Zuffenhausen. The older 911/718-EV ready plant is at completely maximum capacity and running three shifts 24-hours/day.

Meanwhile the Taycan facility 500 meters away has ramped down from two shifts (16 hours/day) to a single shift with in-frequent stops/multi-day closures.

The Taycan plant is much more modern and adaptable – something Porsche term Process 4.0 – it has been designed with Flexiline AGVs. It is obviously orientated towards the manufacture of EVs over ICE vehicles – but perhaps it can handle both.

The 911 factory was re-tooled two years ago to handle both the 400V hybrid 911 and the upcoming 800V 718. But with it maxed out building 911s – I wonder would they consider moving 718EV production over to the plentiful free capacity at the Taycan building. It is either that or reduce the 911 capacity a little while having over capacity just around the corner.

Maybe it will all depend on how well the new 718 sells.

911s already benefit from the Taycan investment made in Zuffenhausen. The new paint shop built for the Taycan is more sophisticated than the older 911 one – and is the reason that it is now much easier to get PTS colour allocations.

If you order a "standard colour" 911 – it gets painted in the traditional paint shop – if you order a PTS colour it gets finished alongside the Taycan bodies.

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