Volkswagen is trying to implement a comprehensive cost-cutting programme with up to 100,000 job losses, double the amount previously planned, by 2030 and the potential contraction or closure of several plants.
But this is capitalism. If German manufacturers can’t compete, they should shut down. Survival of the fittest and free-markets etc etc. there will be job losses but the German people should ask their leaders why that happened
Exactly. They insisted China become capitalist then complain when they do capitalism.
Article doesn’t really point to Chinese vehicles being the primary reason though- it’s that demand is down for cars in Europe.
That said, it’s not really free market capitalist anyway for China to heavily subsidize EV production.
Chinese car makers aren’t really more subsidized than Europeans and US. Actually we’re only seeing the brands that survived the internal competition of the Chinese car market, where a ton of brands failed and died.
What we’re seeing are the brands that survived that competition through extreme optimization, at a level no other car manufacturer had to reach before. And they did that in a growing market of 1.5 billion people.
Why should they struggle when competing with an aging industry with aging production modes that only address ~600m people? Especially when those companies offer objectively worse products at worse prices?
“Objectively”
And just because China had companies go under doesn’t mean they aren’t still subsidized to the hilt.
I do enjoy though people that are normally pro Union, pro worker, etc. essentially arguing that these people’s jobs don’t matter and we’ll take subsidized foreign cars just because they’re cheaper.
You think European car brands aren’t subsidized?
And this has nothing to do with struggling European car brands? https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/eu-relent-combustion-engines-ban-after-auto-industry-pressure-2025-12-16/
Lol you speak as if teslas haven’t been heavily subsidized for decades. The difference is that chinese ev’s are cheaper and deliver good quality.
Teslas are American and of course have been subsidized. But the article is about Volkswagen and German companies…
its not that a certain minister of economy has called them out on their wrong course 5 years ago. But he was shut down as fearmongering and pushing a political agenda.
Folks were saying this when Tesla released model S, and did a reasonable job on the timeline. That’s 14 years ago. But those were tree hugging fanatics who don’t understand the importance of short term stock prices.
Who could have seen this comming…corruption catching up… Who could have seen it coming that bribing politicians to allow them producing their product, that the people dont want anymore, wouldnt result in people wanting their product!!? Truely mind boggeling /s
German cars have become the same plastic crap with the same spying software, but still at double the price.
I would happily buy a 2010 level German car if they would still make it.
I drive a 1999 Skoda Octavia, VAG, with the 1.9 TDI, with the mechanical pump. The thing, with proper maintenance, is ultra reliable. Doesn’t leak or burn oil. It hasn’t had a major repair in 27 years/400.000 km, just consumables, like a clutch, belts, a starter motor, stuff like that.
Two people I know that have bought VAG cars the last 5 years are constantly bitching about their cars.
Engineering is not the problem here, it’s management making engineering decisions.
The Chinese make generational planning. Western make quarterly decisions to appeal to speculators, not investors.
Western car makers, and Japanese/Koreans, definitely have the know how to make good value EVs, and some do (see Renault and Hyundai). If western and free market oriented Asian makers made long term investment and decisions they would compete just fine.
It started to become visible mid 00s. My Audi A4 was a great car mechanically - but it had to go for ‘repairs’ at least two times a year. Not because something was really broke - but because yet another sensor was malfunctioning. Massive costs, not for real repairs, but for mechanics hours figuring out which sensor was the culprit this time. Not one time there was a real mechanical problem.
It doesn’t even mean anything to drive an Audi or BMW anymore. A Hyundai or Chinese brand can give you the same functionality at an equal or cheaper cost. Their cars don’t even stand out anymore due to their SUV focus. It’s hard for a luxury brand to recover its image once it loses its lustre.
free market advocates become anti free market when china comes into play
They refused to make the transformation from gasoline to electro vehicles.
Volkswagen sales in China itself dropped 36% because they don’t offer competitive EV’s compared to local EV’s. The quality and innovation of Chinese EV’s is well ahead of what European manufacturers can offer.
Even what were regarded as luxury brands like BMW and Mercedes have lost more than 30% sales.
It has nothing to do with the Chinese threat but all do to with lack of innovation and investment in new technologies by both European and especially US car manufacturers.
https://autofreak.com/vw-bmw-mercedes-china-sales-collapse-q2/
How about the car industry making bold moves into EV production instead? They have fought EVs tooth and nail, and lobbied to retain the fossile fuel market forever.
We’ve tried nothing, and we’re all out of ideas
Exactly. And now bail us out, or else!
They trie dto make enormous EV car and nobody buy them. They didn’t try to make affordable cars. Because this would impact the economy of leech we have in Europe.
The threat is your disinterest in battery, charging and EV technology?
Euro cars are known to be finicky and when something goes wrong it’s also always a write off unless it’s under warranty.
Have they tried making cars that don’t break after 3-5 years again?
Best I can do is put cameras all over it and track everything that happens inside and out of the car “for your safety”.
I mean, most American models come broken from the factory…
That would break them. Building cars that last means less demand for the next new car. Planned obsolescence is the only way to make sure the next round of vehicles has a market, regardless of whether its a significant enough improvement to justify the cost.
Doesn’t sound quite right to me - isn’t Toyota a top brand globally, and doing just fine building cars engineered to last hundreds of thousands of miles? Somehow there’s plenty of market for their cars year after year.
Different business model. Toyota has the Lexus brand, but they rest most of their business model on the shrinking mass market. It works great… when there’s a significant amount of money in the low- to mid-tier markets. Volkswagen group, Mercedes, etc. target upper-mid to luxury/sport markets. Their target market is people with money who want status symbols, not just tools. It has to run flawless, while it runs, but it doesn’t have to run forever because it’s just as much a fashion accessory as it is for transportation; and fashion trends need regular refreshes.
If you target that market with a super-reliable product, you get an Instant Pot. The original models were designed to be damn near bullet proof and last forever. People will take those things to the grave with them, but once everyone who would consider them had one?.. the bottom fell out of the market and they didn’t diversify into other appliances in time to make up for the lost revenue from their primary line of business. Fell into chapter 11 and got snapped up by a bigger fish. The new ones suck so bad… but it keeps people replacing them.
Line go up.
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Germany must explore other industries besides car manufacturing.
This! Our industry is far too dependent on the car market. Car ownership is going down and people don’t need to buy new cars all the time. The market is saturated. When I look around, everybody is driving a relatively new car that won’t have to be replaced for years. It’s just not a growth industry - and by the love of god, it shouldn’t be one.
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Or simply other technologies. Instead of cars, heat pumps and ACs, both in high demand. Electrolysers for converting excess renewable energy into H2. Electric bikes. Electronic chips. Drones. Whatever.
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Tariffs won’t help because while they’re losing across the board, the most important market for VW, and also the one with the most drastic losses, is not Germany but China. They bet a lot on expansion into China and once reached ~20% market share there, but that has since dropped to half. For BEV specifically it’s abysmal, so the outlook is also bad: BEV has rapidly risen to nearly 60% of the Chinese retail market but VW’s share is in the low single digits.
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Volkswagen is trying to implement a comprehensive cost-cutting programme with up to 100,000 job losses, double the amount previously planned, by 2030 and the potential contraction or closure of several plants.
There’s no solution to this. Either make cars people want to buy or GTFO. Can’t have jobs for an unwanted industry.
The so called “chinese threat” is the chinese not buying their cars anymore?
