VW faces battle with workers over cost cutting plans
#1
VW faces battle with workers over cost cutting plans
(Reuters) - Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE), Europe's biggest carmaker, faces a battle with workers over cost cuts at its biggest car division, a central plank of its drive to meet profit margin targets.
Chief executive Martin Winterkorn on Wednesday called for swift results when outlining an efficiency drive to a gathering of more than 20,000 workers at Volkswagen's (VW) base in Wolfsburg, Germany.
"Over the short-term, we urgently need more efficiency and higher profit," the CEO said. "Without an appropriate financial basis, any strategy must and will fail."
Profitability gains at the VW brand are not keeping pace with surging deliveries for the group, which is set to meet a 10 million vehicle sales goal in 2014, four years early.
But Winterkorn's plea drew a cold response from VW's top labor representative, who blamed management for mistakes that have hindered stronger productivity growth.
"What's now at stake is how we will together with management achieve the target" of boosting profit, VW works council chief Bernd Osterloh said.
"This will not be a walk in the park. It's already clear now that one or two issues will be particularly hard fought."
Winterkorn last week set out plans to steadily increase cost reductions at the VW brand to 5 billion euros ($6.7 billion) a year from 2017, as part of efforts to streamline work processes at the division which accounts for over a third of group revenue.
The VW brand is lagging a medium-term profit margin target of at least 6 percent because of fixed production and personnel costs which the group says are high relative to Japan's Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T).
The brand's 2013 profit margin was 2.9 percent, compared with auto division margins of 8.8 percent at Toyota and 9.5 percent at South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS).
To boost efficiency, Winterkorn has urged "painful action", such as ceasing to make low-profit cars, reining in costs of R&D as well as new factories, speeding up model launches and catering more to the needs of foreign markets.
"Management and staff at VW have had cozy ties for quite a few years. That may be coming to an end now. In difficult times, one will find out how resilient those ties are," said Stefan Bratzel, head of the Center of Automotive Management think-tank near Cologne.
Osterloh, who as member of VW's supervisory board has a say over decisions such as factory closures and takeover bids, urged management to refrain from taking any steps to cut labor costs and instead improve production plans to cut needless overtime.
"We'll tackle this together after the summer break," he said. "This won't be possible completely without conflicts."
($1 = 0.7422 Euros)
Chief executive Martin Winterkorn on Wednesday called for swift results when outlining an efficiency drive to a gathering of more than 20,000 workers at Volkswagen's (VW) base in Wolfsburg, Germany.
"Over the short-term, we urgently need more efficiency and higher profit," the CEO said. "Without an appropriate financial basis, any strategy must and will fail."
Profitability gains at the VW brand are not keeping pace with surging deliveries for the group, which is set to meet a 10 million vehicle sales goal in 2014, four years early.
But Winterkorn's plea drew a cold response from VW's top labor representative, who blamed management for mistakes that have hindered stronger productivity growth.
"What's now at stake is how we will together with management achieve the target" of boosting profit, VW works council chief Bernd Osterloh said.
"This will not be a walk in the park. It's already clear now that one or two issues will be particularly hard fought."
Winterkorn last week set out plans to steadily increase cost reductions at the VW brand to 5 billion euros ($6.7 billion) a year from 2017, as part of efforts to streamline work processes at the division which accounts for over a third of group revenue.
The VW brand is lagging a medium-term profit margin target of at least 6 percent because of fixed production and personnel costs which the group says are high relative to Japan's Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T).
The brand's 2013 profit margin was 2.9 percent, compared with auto division margins of 8.8 percent at Toyota and 9.5 percent at South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS).
To boost efficiency, Winterkorn has urged "painful action", such as ceasing to make low-profit cars, reining in costs of R&D as well as new factories, speeding up model launches and catering more to the needs of foreign markets.
"Management and staff at VW have had cozy ties for quite a few years. That may be coming to an end now. In difficult times, one will find out how resilient those ties are," said Stefan Bratzel, head of the Center of Automotive Management think-tank near Cologne.
Osterloh, who as member of VW's supervisory board has a say over decisions such as factory closures and takeover bids, urged management to refrain from taking any steps to cut labor costs and instead improve production plans to cut needless overtime.
"We'll tackle this together after the summer break," he said. "This won't be possible completely without conflicts."
($1 = 0.7422 Euros)
#2
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being a VW fan since growing up, it sucks to see that their current lineup of cars are boring and stale. How about bringing over some of the other cars that they have in europe and do what Ford did and globalized their cars to save money etc.
I also hate the fact that the US gets everything almost a year later. The MkVII Golf/GTi is finally hitting our soils when it's been out over there for a year now?
I also hate the fact that the US gets everything almost a year later. The MkVII Golf/GTi is finally hitting our soils when it's been out over there for a year now?
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#4
Lexus Test Driver
This is mostly related to the last Jetta and Passat being a shade too bland and boring. We were used to some very bauhaus and dynamic sedans, but the current dumbed-down ones brought everything down one level. Hope they put two and two together and give America what they really want- true German machines at a reasonable price.
Additionally, VW is too slow getting new cars cooked up or over to the U.S. (This has been a chronic problem for decades.) The Tiguan is overdue for a redesign (and too expensive), the EOS is totally outdated, the Golf should have arrived here when it arrived in Germany, and the Passat is about to be overdue for a facelift. All marketing mistakes that lead to poorer sales.
Additionally, VW is too slow getting new cars cooked up or over to the U.S. (This has been a chronic problem for decades.) The Tiguan is overdue for a redesign (and too expensive), the EOS is totally outdated, the Golf should have arrived here when it arrived in Germany, and the Passat is about to be overdue for a facelift. All marketing mistakes that lead to poorer sales.
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#8
Lexus Champion
But didn't this strategy -- dumb down and water down to cheapen costs -- work for the current Jetta? Sales are up over the more expensive last-gen model. Didn't seem to work for the North American Passat but perhaps that is just the wrong vehicle for North America.
#9
The pursuit of F
People are just better informed today and know VW is among the worst in reliability. I agree with a prior post, Kia/Hyundai are the ones to watch out for in 5 years or so.
#12
Lexus Fanatic
The current Jetta sells, though, mainly because of its low price. VW did cost-cut in the interior and chassis, but many of its buyers, unlike us, don't seem to notice....or care.
#13
Lexus Fanatic
"Over the short-term, we urgently need more efficiency and higher profit," the CEO said.
The same old song-and-dance. Some companies are never satisfied with their bottom line, no matter what happens.
#14