The Volkswagen Group is tightening the belly belt to enter a new phase with a lower fixed cost. It is not yet known whether and how many jobs may disappear.
The Volkswagen Group has made a profit last year, but not surprisingly, 2020 was not as expected in advance. This while the group wants to invest € 46 billion in more electric mobility over the next five years. You can already feel it coming: the hand is on the cut. Brand-new CFO Arno Antlitz announces that by 2023 the group wants to have fixed costs € 2 billion or roughly 5 percent lower than last year. Compared to 2019, this is even a 10 percent cost saving. The material costs must also be reduced by 7 percent by 2023. “We believe a lower cost base is needed to improve our competitiveness and fund our future,” said Antlitz.
The CFO states that R&D and capital expenditure will not be affected by the cutbacks. Instead, the Volkswagen Group is looking for it in its headquarters (so jobs probably), indirect costs for factories (possibly also jobs) and dealerships and related marketing. In any case, it is probably inevitable that this will entail job losses. On Monday, the rumor came out that the Volkswagen Group is ‘on the verge of cutting thousands of jobs’. We will hear more about that soon.