Volkswagen is executing the most radical overhaul in its 89-year history by cutting 100000 jobs around 15 percent of its total workforce and closing four major German plants in Hanover Zwickau Emden plus Audi's Neckarsulm site while reducing investment 15 percent to just over 148 billion dollars across the next five years. The cause is relentless competition from Chinese automakers delivering cheaper vehicles and moving faster on electric models. Volkswagen's General Works Council and IG Metall responded with an immediate joint statement vowing to block the plans with all their might. This is what real global competition looks like when European legacy makers finally face price and technology pressure instead of coasting behind tariffs and regulations. Unions can scream all they want but the market does not care about 89 years of history when better products arrive at lower cost. The German auto sector just got a hard lesson in what happens when the protected era ends.
The EU leadership does not have the spine or the political will for a trade war with China. So, they just continue to talk about the out of control trade imbalance absorbing China's overcapacity and send strongly worded letters to Beijing while their industrial base continues to be hollowed out. They are damned if they do, and damned if they don't. Heaven forbid their green agenda gets derailed. Their pursuit of net zero has them now backed into a corner, and the CCP knows it. While the US started diversifying supply chains to break the dependence upon China and opening up our own energy independence, the EU in their usual elitist arrogance, simply looked down their noses at the US and sat on their hands. If they don't find a backbone soon, they are screwed. When they can no longer pay to support the freeloaders they allowed in, then the fireworks really start.
This problem has been foreseeable for decades. After World War II, the Beetle was produced in Wolfsburg on behalf of the British military government (Lower Saxony was part of the British occupation zone). The British also launched what would later become the world’s largest industrial trade fair for many years in Hanover. More on that later.
VW’s problem is the decisive influence of politics, since the state of Lower Saxony owns 20% of the shares. No one gets ahead at VW who doesn’t align with the state government’s political agenda. For decades now, this agenda has been left-wing and green: green steel, CO2-reduced production processes, and the transition to exclusively electric vehicles. This was coupled with the highest industrial wages and virtually permanent employment for German permanent workers. Management AND employees simply didn’t want to change anything that would curtail their own privileges. Now they’re paying the price! GAME OVER!
Lower Saxony’s political parasites have no options left for action—not just in this state, but anywhere—due to the total debt crisis. But there’s more to this region than just VW! Deutsche Messe AG is owned equally by the state of Lower Saxony and the city of Hanover. Here, too, leadership positions are awarded not based on proven abilities but on political connections.
The era of in-person trade shows is definitely over; Germany is no longer an industrial nation, and if you’re not only forbidden from cutting political and socialist dead weight but also lack the ability to do so, the next company will simply go under.
Recently, another of the world’s best cruise ship builders, the Meyer shipyard in Papenburg, has joined the list.
The government is providing billions in guarantees. But after the crash, with all those gigantic ships, who will even be able to go on vacation anymore?
In the first quarter, Germany irretrievably lost 483,000 industrial jobs. In return, 160,000 new jobs were created in public administration.
Volkswagen is executing the most radical overhaul in its 89-year history by cutting 100000 jobs around 15 percent of its total workforce and closing four major German plants in Hanover Zwickau Emden plus Audi's Neckarsulm site while reducing investment 15 percent to just over 148 billion dollars across the next five years. The cause is relentless competition from Chinese automakers delivering cheaper vehicles and moving faster on electric models. Volkswagen's General Works Council and IG Metall responded with an immediate joint statement vowing to block the plans with all their might. This is what real global competition looks like when European legacy makers finally face price and technology pressure instead of coasting behind tariffs and regulations. Unions can scream all they want but the market does not care about 89 years of history when better products arrive at lower cost. The German auto sector just got a hard lesson in what happens when the protected era ends.
SOURCE: https://x.com/StockMKTNewz/status/2070470942099141075 SOURCE (mirror): https://xcancel.com/StockMKTNewz/status/2070470942099141075
That's gonna hurt our East Frysian cousins .....
Isn't it funny how my best friend when teenager, was an East Frysian/Cockney ?
TARIFFS.
It’s not rocket science.
The EU leadership does not have the spine or the political will for a trade war with China. So, they just continue to talk about the out of control trade imbalance absorbing China's overcapacity and send strongly worded letters to Beijing while their industrial base continues to be hollowed out. They are damned if they do, and damned if they don't. Heaven forbid their green agenda gets derailed. Their pursuit of net zero has them now backed into a corner, and the CCP knows it. While the US started diversifying supply chains to break the dependence upon China and opening up our own energy independence, the EU in their usual elitist arrogance, simply looked down their noses at the US and sat on their hands. If they don't find a backbone soon, they are screwed. When they can no longer pay to support the freeloaders they allowed in, then the fireworks really start.
This problem has been foreseeable for decades. After World War II, the Beetle was produced in Wolfsburg on behalf of the British military government (Lower Saxony was part of the British occupation zone). The British also launched what would later become the world’s largest industrial trade fair for many years in Hanover. More on that later.
VW’s problem is the decisive influence of politics, since the state of Lower Saxony owns 20% of the shares. No one gets ahead at VW who doesn’t align with the state government’s political agenda. For decades now, this agenda has been left-wing and green: green steel, CO2-reduced production processes, and the transition to exclusively electric vehicles. This was coupled with the highest industrial wages and virtually permanent employment for German permanent workers. Management AND employees simply didn’t want to change anything that would curtail their own privileges. Now they’re paying the price! GAME OVER!
Lower Saxony’s political parasites have no options left for action—not just in this state, but anywhere—due to the total debt crisis. But there’s more to this region than just VW! Deutsche Messe AG is owned equally by the state of Lower Saxony and the city of Hanover. Here, too, leadership positions are awarded not based on proven abilities but on political connections. The era of in-person trade shows is definitely over; Germany is no longer an industrial nation, and if you’re not only forbidden from cutting political and socialist dead weight but also lack the ability to do so, the next company will simply go under.
Recently, another of the world’s best cruise ship builders, the Meyer shipyard in Papenburg, has joined the list. The government is providing billions in guarantees. But after the crash, with all those gigantic ships, who will even be able to go on vacation anymore?
In the first quarter, Germany irretrievably lost 483,000 industrial jobs. In return, 160,000 new jobs were created in public administration.
Simple solution…EU cucks stop importing Chinese LI flame generators. Duhhh