Volkswagen Board Rejects Turnaround Plan in 12-7 Vote as Tariffs and China Losses Squeeze Margins
Updated
Updated · Ars Technica · Jul 10
Volkswagen Board Rejects Turnaround Plan in 12-7 Vote as Tariffs and China Losses Squeeze Margins
3 articles · Updated · Ars Technica · Jul 10
Summary
Volkswagen’s supervisory board voted 12-7 against a plan meant to address the group’s worsening finances, despite pressure from shrinking profitability.
Tariffs and lost market share in China and North America have hit Europe’s biggest automaker, even as electric-vehicle sales remain strong in its home market.
20 board seats give labor unusual clout at Volkswagen: worker councils appoint half, and Lower Saxony holds two more seats through state representatives.
Job cuts appear central to the dispute, with Reuters saying expected factory closures and redundancies were absent from Volkswagen’s public statement but the proposal still failed.
35,000 jobs are already due to be cut by 2030 under a 2024 deal, underscoring how hard deeper restructuring remains at the group.