Volkswagen expects the German car market to stabilize again this summer after the corona crisis. That seems like a quick statement given the current state of affairs, but a spokesperson takes China as an example.
With almost all closed car factories and the recession warning, things don’t look very rosy for the car industry. Nevertheless, Volkswagens head of sales and marketing, Juergen Stackmann, expects things to get loose. He says to the German Frankfurter Allgemeine: “We expect the German market to be stable again next summer.” The CEO does not think that we will get rid of the virus soon, but he also does not expect that all countries will be locked until this summer. “Society and the economy cannot stand that,” he says.
It is not clear how he sees this exactly, but according to Stackmann “we must learn to live with the virus.” He takes the Chinese market as an example. The country where the virus was first detected is now slowly creeping out of a trough. “The Chinese market has already started to pick up”. The German says nothing about the possible reopening of the closed factories, but does say that Volkswagen is investigating whether it is possible for factory employees to do their work with sufficient distance between each other.
In addition, according to him, it has become very clear to Volkswagen that online car trading is hugely important. Some initiatives have already been taken to this end, but the development of this new phenomenon is now being examined even faster. Until then, various production belts inside and outside Europe have come to a standstill.