Oliver Blume is sweating. The Volkswagen chief is desperately trying to keep the lights on at his German factories while hacking away at the company’s bloated budget. It is a brutal tightrope walk.
Wolfsburg is feeling the squeeze. Cheap, aggressive Chinese rivals are eating VW’s lunch in Asia, forcing the German giant to rethink its entire existence. Just last week, the automaker admitted its three-year restructuring plan is entering a painful new phase. The goal? Axing up to half of its current car models.
Details are scarce. Naturally, this silence has workers terrified that German factories are next on the chopping block.
Blume is trying to play the optimist. He told German newspaper Bild am Sonntag that smarter solutions exist than simply locking the gates and turning off the lights.
According to Blume, the pain is already paying off. He claims German factory costs dropped by about 20% last year. He called it progress.
But the core problem remains. People still buy Volkswagens. They just do not yield enough profit. Blume knows the math does not add up, meaning more cuts are coming. Every single department should start looking over its shoulder.
