this post was submitted on 02 Sep 2024
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137
Volkswagen considers German plant closures to save billions in costs | The Guardian (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 73 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (5 children)

Meanwhile Renault will be producing the 5 (upcoming small EV) in France for a pretty low price considering modern car (and especially EV) pricing. It's even got a reasonable range.

My point bringing that up is... if this happens, it's because VW is being greedy and seeks to outsource labour – likely to Asia. It's not because it's a necessary move to make their business viable.

I've always liked VAG cars, shit I currently have one, but they've been making such massive missteps for years now.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 months ago (1 children)

They're looking for subsidies it seems, they're getting some pretty generous benefits from the Canadian government so might as well take advantage of it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

ah yes this is it. They just threaten politics, so big corps get money again from governments to stay.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Username does not check out! Not at all! What have the Wormhole-beings done to you Nagus?!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Have driven VAG cars for most of my driving life (25 years out of 27) and have always found something that suited my life at the time. I'm currently driving an Arteon Shooting Brake, but that's no longer made and the iD range is just dull, dull, dull. The Audi EVs are priced so high they're ridiculous, and the Cupras are just not different enough from the iDs.. I'm hoping the Skoda concepts come to fruition, but they'll most likely be dulled down and not as cool as they look now (the Epiq looks neat).... We shall see. But it may be time to move on.

I might be getting old, but I don't want a dull car, thanks!

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago

Greed is not optional under capitalism.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Seems like a misstep. If the cars aren’t selling, look outside the manufacturing plant for the problems.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I mean they hiked considerably the prices and then wonder why their cars aren't selling well. Plus VW cars are very boring.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Boring is good. I'd rather a car be boring than surprising. Especially at highway speeds.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Okay, I meant not exciting. It is very much meh.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

The real issue is the pricetag. Most folks as I understand it want a car to go to work and run errands or whatever. The appeal of Japanese cars historically has been their reliability and competitive price. They were,'t really luxury vehicles, but took a huge chunk of the market by being a commuter car.

People wanting exciting cars are probably looking for sports cars or muscle cars or whatever that VW doesn't have much of a hand in.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Well don’t forget the diesel emission scandal. They’ll happily cheat for profit as hard as possible.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

The Wolfsburg-based manufacturer on Monday informed its works council

Goshdarnit Guardian. You mean management, as in the CEO, informed the board, which has 50% - 1 seats allocated to the works council. Who already expressed their preference for the CEO to shove it. Then we have the seats representing the state stake (Lower Saxony owns 20%), which let it be known, somewhat more statesmanlike, that "the question of works closures won't arise because every other option will be exhausted first".

My prediction? If the CEO doesn't clearly communicate that "those were of course theoretical considerations unlikely to have practical relevance" there's going to be a new CEO.