The quality of VW vehicles has diminished-they are not the vehicles they once were. That goes for BMW and Mercedes as well. They build worse-quality vehicles but want a ton of money for them-they are not worth it. People once were willing to pay for a car that would last decades, but they are not willing to pay a premium price for a car that will not last even five years before they bleed you dry for repairs.
The quality of a lot of car manufacturers has gone downhill. I own a 2010 Toyota IQ which I recently serviced at a Toyota garage. I was told by the service manager to keep the car for as long as possible because the older vehicles are better made than newer ones.
Had VW quit diesel instead of lying to consumers they would not go belly up. Now they are doomed. VW is dead. They cannot recover. Only hope to save investors is to stop building cars and outsource design and production to China.
These workers are living in dreams. How hard is to understand VW is in trouble ? Yet, demanding salary increase? If they kept doing these, there would be no more VW.
This protest make no sense and future strikes will only make the situation worse. VW is reducing wages and closing factories for a reason. If the cars being made aren’t being sold at the same rate how do people expect the company to survive? Do they want to keep the factories open and keep the wages the same where the company will most definitely go bankrupt or do they take things as it is and hope it gets better in the future?
This is so true. VW for sure dont want to close 3 factories selling less cars and waste the money invested in the plants. But since they dont sell enough cars they are forced to close. In Sweden we got strong unions. They focus on salaries, benefits and so on. When companies are forced to downscale they very rarely try to make the situation even worse. Because its better that a few plants close than all the plants to close.
@@zeritho6073they definitely want to close them…they will move them to countries where labor is cheaper…for real now guys are you serious now?…they made billions this year they definitely afford to raise wages and still make billions…
@@91StefaNs60 VW lost 42% of their profit. So something clearly is not good. The people that buy cars dont seem to be ready to pay more for the higher salaries... sadly. Should the company keep doing the same and just hope that it suddenly work the next year? What happen if the bad trend continue? Is it worth to risk all plants instead of 3 plants? We live in a competive world. I work at a company that closed factories the unions didnt protest... why? Because they understand we live in a competative world and if you not are competative you sooner or later will go bankrupt and then everyone lose. A 42% dropp is not a trend that can continue for to long
This is spun incorrectly. Volkswagen isn't facing stiff competition from China; it is experiencing stiff competition IN China from local chinese manufacturers. That is a lie by omission. In Europe, they are facing stiff competition by Tesla. Also a lie of omission.
Oh comeon Tesla is a shtty american car, with all cheap plastic interiors and subpar systems, which look like a Honda for the pricetag of a Mercedes. Its not competitive in European markets and never will be. Thatswhy they are sucking tax incentives like theres no tomorrow.
@@gaborrajnai6213Yet Tesla has the most sold electric vehicles everywhere where they are sold. And if Tesla is your benchmark for interior quality, maybe don't try to benchmark VW with the same. 😂
Try listening to the program or reading the video description. VW have paid substantial amounts out as dividends, Dividends are a distribution of profits - by law you can't pay dividends if you have no profits so closing the factory because they are losing money is not exactly the whole truth is it? In reality they're closing the factory because they can get their cars made cheaper in China.
@@c2757 Just to clarify, VW has DROPPED their earning expectations for the next year, which is how they are justifying layoffs and plant closures. They are anticipating lower profits and reacting in response.
Sad story but car market is changing, less sales more players in the market and VW has to many workers. Tesla makes 16 % profit on a car and VW 3 %....
What amazes me is the arrogance of German industry, when Tesla launched the Model S, over 10 years ago, did no German car company attempt to make a prototype rival, to see if they were competitive or not, then make the required investments in software development/ EV tech?
Don't ever compared VW to Tesla, Tesla is garbage, Chinese EV miles better with much lower price. VW competition is Toyota, yet Toyota also much more reliable and cheaper than VW
@@dinmavric5504 Aaand this is why VW are a sang song now. They did not innovate nor cut costs and now they will drag their employees and Germany as a whole down the drain.
@@dinmavric5504 Also the company with the world's best selling car and a company increasing sales and profits year on year, unlike VW and other German brands who continue to lose market share.
These workers are dilusional. Some of these technicians make 100k for working in factory. If they get fired today, they wont get another for even 40k. They literally blackmail the company. But ok. Go ahead. Create more trouble. When the company goes belly up, no one will have anything. No job, no salary, neither workers nor CEO.
Herbert Diess ghost is hunting VW. No one is waiting for German’s slow transitioning into EVs. At least not China. The problem is that German EVs are not as compelling as Tesla and the Chinese EVs. The decline is going to be fast and painful.
@@saltymonke3682 I have seen a 35% p.a. growth rate of EVs in China. That does not seem to confirm your ill-informed comment. No need to put an emoji to laugh at the ineptitude of your comment!
Amazing! No mention of the reason for all of this - the 500% increase in the cost of energy for German industry due its own govt's idiocy. The cost of labor has not changed. The union does not represent the workers.
@@andreashoner9054 You've got to be joking. Look around, open your eyes and try to tell me that costs are decreasing. The German 'Greens' are burning Australian coal and importing Russian gas from India at 5 times the price of taking it out of a pipe. This does not lower the cost of electricity.
I usually support union in their efforts when companies are doing well. But while the company is struggling this strikes are not going to help them instead might harm them if company just no longer exists. I feel the CEO should just cut his salaries as measure of good faith and union should end the trike with that.
@@triglavbog7527 Not a bot, this seems like logical bargain. If your employer does not exist it does not benefit you! Specially, when the employer is big part of economy which is already struggling.
It’s pretty standard that if your product is comparatively undesirable, it’s going to sell less. Nobody wants a Volkswagen- not because of the price or the brand, but because the cars are uncompetitive.
My wife and her sister both bought new VW cars two years ago, both got rid of them this year. One bought a Toyota and the other a Dodge because both of the VW’s were absolute garbage. They were plagued with problems and break downs. Americans used to love “German engineering,” but people in America are very disappointed in German goods as of the last few years.
Old ways of building cars is unable to compete with Tesla and Chinese manufacturing processes. Will the unions lead the industry to better production methods? I don't think legacy automaker management will either. Something will have to change but all I see right now is finger pointing. At least Nissan and possibly Stellantis will be out of the game soon and some serious corrective actions may happen after they are gone.
By all means, spend all the money to move it somewhere else while having a boycott worldwide called for. Those executives at had better have good security because people are good at finding folks these days.
I have to say, as a family that started with VW Beetles in the 70’s and Golfs and Jettas in the 80’s and early 90’s, the overall reliability of VW took a nose dive in the 2000’s to today. From really bad automatic transmission’s, oil sludge issues in motors to failures in body control modules that won’t let the car start (all expensive issues we have experienced personally), VW lost us a long time ago and probably will never get us back…
Blame the countries who bombed the natural gas pipeline which in turn caused the energy cost (and manufacturing cost) in Germany to skyrocket and become uncompetitive.
LoL don't make a fool of yourself! The German automotive industry was predicted to dive in near future way before that. Even before the war in Ukraine. No innovation and high wages were the final nail in the coffin.
What did they expect? Citizens of Germany have chosen a green agenda with higher energy costs and EV mandates, thus much lower living standard and higher unemployment. This is all very predictable and this information was available before the elections.
VW Union workers are actually some of the highest paid Labors in EU. VW pays like 1.5x what other automakers and manufacturing industry pays, yet, they want more and blame corporate greed. People doesn't seem to understand how Investors and Corporation work. The S&P 500 Index Fund grows like 10-15% anually, if running an expensive and complex operation like a Car making company can't at least double or triple that ROI, why would any investor wants to invest into a Car Company?
Companies are not able to sell cars and their profits are tumbling. Who will pay salaries to these workers? They dont want workers as productions are going down. Cheap Chinese cars are flooding the markets.
@@Raja-xk3olit’s not chinas problem, they provide a service and a product. It’s upto the German companies to adapt and overcome. They could see this coming a mile away but failed to diversify their fleet. They let Tesla take their markets.
In fact, VW is still making a profit this year. The reason why they cut workers' salaries is that they want to maintain the income level of executives.
The cost of energy is, by itself, the reason of NO plant closure... save perhaps an aluminium smelter! It is a combination of factors, starting by non-competitive products, continuing by inefficient manufacturing (3x the time to assemble a VW than a Tesla, as reported by the VW Chairman himself), dated manufacturing techniques and tooling, high labor costs... and, away down the list, energy price!
Not easy to keep manufacturing to same level as before if people are not buying the product. Question asked by all parties involved is why people are not buying the product and what could be done so the people will buy the product. Until all involved get realistic, nothing will solve and sadly the employees will most likely lose their jobs. Sadly, in all news and elsewhere in Germany, the people involved never seems to ask these two questions and keep blaming external factors. Japanese and Korean cars are doing well elsewhere and even in Germany so that is not the reason.
@@FrunkensteinVonZipperneck If you think, then you don't know about Japanese companies and their timeline. Hyundai is raking losses even in ICE across Asia. Japanese are not. Japanese are already planned for EV, they are pioneer in Hybrid vehicles and battery technology since decades. Of course, it is not easy competition with Chinese and only in software they can beat Japanese, but they are not good when it comes to reliability and performance because of how much lie about the longevity and so on. Japanese on other hand are some of the very honest nationalities on this planet.
German economy will have that issue in a lot more sectors. Car is a quick industry to notice it because if you are struggling with 2k net a month minus living costs then you will of course not be buying a brand new golf for 30 to 50k Euros. So basically 50% of all newly employeed german employees already are priced out of most of their cars. But ultimately the issue is a lot more systemic, wage are low, living costs are high, energy costs are high, bureacracy, taxes and regulation are high. The result will be less consumer spending, less intake for the economy and lower tax returns which also means Germany will keep cutting self-investments due to their debt ceiling policy. The only way around it is to change the constitution and make heavy investments, but there probably won't be a political majority for that.
This disaster has been in many ways created by Scholz, but they still consider him as future Chancellor. Germany is turning into a huge mental hospital
Even the striking workers would pay 20K to buy a Chinese EV car than 40-50K to buy an overpriced VW equivalent with no hesitation. Cars are not selling for a reason.
Don’t worry, all will be ok! Ukraine will prevail and Germany just sent 650 million to Zelensky! Zelensky will take care of German citizens and VW,❤❤❤❤❤
When Volkswagen manufactures cars in China for China, then a drop in sales in China means nothing when you look at production lines in Germany. And giving billions of Euros to shareholders and then claiming there is no money for the workers is simply lies.
Agree. Someone in Germany goofed on the US market. Volkswagen tried to penetrate the American market by alienating it's fanbase. They went from selling European fun drive vehicles to selling overpriced or bland vehicles aren't appealing to most Americans. Then when you throw in the overly touchscreen centric radios and switching from manual gearboxes to GSG you alienated your core customer. So they never was able to gain any market share from Honda and Toyota while turning off those that like to drive VW's.
IG metal is the worst union, the German factory workers salaries are the highest and they don’t allow automation, block every project. The union and employees live in a bubble.
Dear VW. All you need to do is make an $20,000 EV with windup windows that goes from A to B. We never bought Beetles, Golfs & Minibuses for their features and safety
I laugh when union workers or any workers for that matter demand job security ?? sure in a perfect world it would be great but thats not reality .The only people who come close are those lazy bureaucrats in Brussels , they seem to be exempt from layoffs
Without safe boarders and with strong military pressure from the east you will spend way more on your own defence…or you will be made to feed the enemy (RUS) army.
Birhan, go elsewhere to earn those money you need to put bread on the table for your swarm of kids. Rubles cannot pay for that much, unless you live in abject poverty...
The German auto industry has been dependent on great advertising here in the US for decades. At some point people will start noticing that their cars are a terrible value. Then things will really crash.
No fan or modern corporate bs... but, it sounds like they are already struggling. So if you strike or threaten to quit, sounds like they will just take it, since they are downsizing or going bust anyways.
the decline of the european automakers are more to do with some odd european standards and the rush to to everything to EV; EU governments should take a look at the mirror and change the unrealistic plans
When sales are down and you're losing money it's time to lay people off. It's called reality. I don't think Germany will continue as a prosperous country if it denies reality.
Could it be the fact Germany no longer gets cheap Russian gas due to nord stream and having to pay for higher prices for US NLG so costs are going up the roof just saying
VW is a failing company, where do the employees think they're going to get the money from to pay them more? They should leave to companies not on the decline before they get forced out with redundancies. The strikes only quicken VW's demise. China and Tesla are the future for car manufacturing and many legacy brands will shrink or cease to exist entirely, striking and asking for money that isn't there isn't going to help the situation.
And they think business will ever come to Germany after seeing this ? This great country (once) look after outsider than its own and this is the result. As I always see look out for your family first rather than sending aid to a country for fight.
Everyone around the world knows that germany future is tourism. 13 years ago german gpd was 3 times bigger than california. Now California has a bigger gdp.
@@soil-play Well, I think Europe as a whole is on its way to become a service-sector oriented economy. The way technological advancements happen is by their nature exponential, so it is more likely that innovation will keep picking up elsewhere giving them competitive edge on AI, digitalization and new technologies while Europe may become more focused on tertiary sector economy than industry. In Germany the share of industry employment went down by 6% in the past 20 years already (which does not seem much but is a drop from 30% to 24% of employment in the sector since 2000).
I sympathise with these guys but you can't protest to keep stores , factories etc open. You can force employers to pay a minimum wage for example. But you can't force them to pay NO wages by shutting down all together. Or by moving overseas. Unless you manage to enslave them obviously.
They are to blame themselves for this. Blindly following bosch inputs, promoting over engineering like Autosar..time to get back to basics and eliminate waste like A-Spice.. just follow iso for efficiency...
Germany is losing its primacy in the auto industry and it seems to be an irreversible process. In ancient times, they made very high-quality vehicles, Mercedes 123-124, Golf 2, Audi 80. Those vehicles are still used today. I have an Audi 80 from 1991. It is still excellent and will outlast all Audis after 2010. It is said that these vehicles are the biggest German mistake because they last and last and do not break down.
Volkswagen will survive. Its offices in Germany and factories in Eastern Europe, Mexico, etc. will remain. But its factories in Germany and German factory workers may disappear.
It may be dangerous to be America's Enemy but to be America's friend is fatal....Inexpensive Russian Energy was key to the European Economy. Our American commentator could not help herself but throw in the human rights comment about the Uighurs. The U.S. is attacking the European Economy...
If the company does sell more cars, it can't keep factories open, neither can it guarantee job security. Yes, people will lose even if they protest for a year.
Has anybody heard of sound editing? Please turn the volume of the interview during translations/voiceovers. Other than that, thank you very much for the reportage.
The quality of VW vehicles has diminished-they are not the vehicles they once were. That goes for BMW and Mercedes as well. They build worse-quality vehicles but want a ton of money for them-they are not worth it. People once were willing to pay for a car that would last decades, but they are not willing to pay a premium price for a car that will not last even five years before they bleed you dry for repairs.
Union workers built the vehicles.
This is a malaise affecting all of us in the West.
@@MossMini Well their engineers, bean counters and top executives are not.
The quality of a lot of car manufacturers has gone downhill. I own a 2010 Toyota IQ which I recently serviced at a Toyota garage. I was told by the service manager to keep the car for as long as possible because the older vehicles are better made than newer ones.
@@keithmartin1328 Agreed 100%.
Basically nothing but expensive junk. All in a race to the bottom of quality
Sure, VW keeps blaming China for their own failure.
Bring back the orginal Beetle.
Executive fools thought they could fool Chinese people forEVer...
In North America VW is beaten up by Japanese and Korean brands. There is NO China at all.
@@Patrick-yh5yd stop living in a past
@@Patrick-yh5yd Sea animals (dolphin, seal, sealion, seagull) dominate now.
At 0.50 the voiceover can be done better - English louder and the German voice softer, otherwise it is hard to listen to. Thank you.
Its DW. German quality like german trains.
English subtitles would be great too.
Yes it Real
total beginners in the sound department.
Yeah I didn't make out anything that was said there so I just skipped that part. Horrible sound design.
Paying over 4 billion dollars in fines in the US didn't help VW either.
True, they would be 4 billion dollars richer if they didn't cheat on diesel emissions.
Volkswagen should export her cars to EU ...so simple..!!
Had VW quit diesel instead of lying to consumers they would not go belly up. Now they are doomed. VW is dead. They cannot recover. Only hope to save investors is to stop building cars and outsource design and production to China.
VW had planned to build a very fancy VW headquarter in Beijing, but that 4 billion fines paid to U.S government cancelled the plan
That was years ago.
These workers are living in dreams. How hard is to understand VW is in trouble ? Yet, demanding salary increase? If they kept doing these, there would be no more VW.
You need to understand, they trying to solve the wrong problem.
Could just decrease the overblown Management salaries at the top and use it pay the workers
@@Leaf8823 hmm, sounds Soviet solution.
@@Leaf8823 While the top does earn a lot, dividing the salaries will pay for no more than a couple hundred workers.
@@Leaf8823 Buddy, even if you don't pay the management anything, if the cars don't sell, how do you keep the company afloat?
This protest make no sense and future strikes will only make the situation worse. VW is reducing wages and closing factories for a reason. If the cars being made aren’t being sold at the same rate how do people expect the company to survive? Do they want to keep the factories open and keep the wages the same where the company will most definitely go bankrupt or do they take things as it is and hope it gets better in the future?
This is so true. VW for sure dont want to close 3 factories selling less cars and waste the money invested in the plants. But since they dont sell enough cars they are forced to close. In Sweden we got strong unions. They focus on salaries, benefits and so on. When companies are forced to downscale they very rarely try to make the situation even worse. Because its better that a few plants close than all the plants to close.
they blow up gas pipelines, and now gas is not cheap, and they stop sell cars in russia, and they will close factories
@@zeritho6073they definitely want to close them…they will move them to countries where labor is cheaper…for real now guys are you serious now?…they made billions this year they definitely afford to raise wages and still make billions…
@@91StefaNs60 VW lost 42% of their profit. So something clearly is not good. The people that buy cars dont seem to be ready to pay more for the higher salaries... sadly. Should the company keep doing the same and just hope that it suddenly work the next year? What happen if the bad trend continue? Is it worth to risk all plants instead of 3 plants? We live in a competive world. I work at a company that closed factories the unions didnt protest... why? Because they understand we live in a competative world and if you not are competative you sooner or later will go bankrupt and then everyone lose. A 42% dropp is not a trend that can continue for to long
The reason ofr the reduced wages and possible layoffs is to protect the bottom line.
Time to wake up. Job security is no longer guaranteed.
Really, then whith higher risks comes higher costs...
There is no job security in animal kingdom, so nothing new. You have to work deligently everyday and take charge of your destiny.
No, that is not the problem. You cannot talk about the real problem the German media is forbidden from talking about it.
Come to Poland to work for VW, at 1/4 of the salary.
Because 1 German Herr = 4 Polaks?
1/4 is around 1200 euros. That's a very good salary in Poland!!!
IG Metall will never allow that, they'd rather see the German car industry implode first.
the smart ones learned German and have been working for VW in Germany for a long time. Now all they learn is English. But GB is now closed.
Come to China 300 euros
This is spun incorrectly. Volkswagen isn't facing stiff competition from China; it is experiencing stiff competition IN China from local chinese manufacturers.
That is a lie by omission.
In Europe, they are facing stiff competition by Tesla. Also a lie of omission.
They blamed everyone, but didn't blame themselves.
Oh comeon Tesla is a shtty american car, with all cheap plastic interiors and subpar systems, which look like a Honda for the pricetag of a Mercedes. Its not competitive in European markets and never will be. Thatswhy they are sucking tax incentives like theres no tomorrow.
sales decreased in their biggest market, they have no choice but to cut the inefficient parts of the company.
@@gaborrajnai6213 "cheap plastic interiors" is your takeaway?😂
@@gaborrajnai6213Yet Tesla has the most sold electric vehicles everywhere where they are sold. And if Tesla is your benchmark for interior quality, maybe don't try to benchmark VW with the same. 😂
I don't understand this protest, the company is closing factory and losing money, but they want payrise?
Try listening to the program or reading the video description. VW have paid substantial amounts out as dividends, Dividends are a distribution of profits - by law you can't pay dividends if you have no profits so closing the factory because they are losing money is not exactly the whole truth is it? In reality they're closing the factory because they can get their cars made cheaper in China.
@@c2757 Just to clarify, VW has DROPPED their earning expectations for the next year, which is how they are justifying layoffs and plant closures. They are anticipating lower profits and reacting in response.
@@c2757 the vw group paid dividends, not VW brand.
@@c2757 What you are saying is not true. Every fraudulent company takes on debt and pays itself dividends. Later they declare bankruptcy.
The owners own the company, they make decisions for next 10 years not just doing excel math with salaries and dividends to sum zero.
When you drive across Africa, do you use a VW or Bugatti or a Toyota Land Cruiser? German engineering should be asking themselves this.
Do you really think that Africa is the biggest market for VW?
@@michaelprovence Anywhere works
No, it not German engineering that is the problem. You are trying to solve the wrong problem.
Exactly. Don’t know why they keep bringing China up. In North America VW is eliminated by Toyota honda and Hyundai Kia
@@michaelprovenceChina is the biggest maker for VW but VW doesn’t export cars to China. They are manufactured in China
Sad story but car market is changing, less sales more players in the market and VW has to many workers. Tesla makes 16 % profit on a car and VW 3 %....
What amazes me is the arrogance of German industry, when Tesla launched the Model S, over 10 years ago, did no German car company attempt to make a prototype rival, to see if they were competitive or not, then make the required investments in software development/ EV tech?
Yes, Tesla the company who made the Cybetruck...
Sorry I just can't take you seriously.
Don't ever compared VW to Tesla, Tesla is garbage, Chinese EV miles better with much lower price. VW competition is Toyota, yet Toyota also much more reliable and cheaper than VW
@@dinmavric5504 Aaand this is why VW are a sang song now. They did not innovate nor cut costs and now they will drag their employees and Germany as a whole down the drain.
@@dinmavric5504 Also the company with the world's best selling car and a company increasing sales and profits year on year, unlike VW and other German brands who continue to lose market share.
Lol, investing in EV is what makes VW go bankrupt
US: let's deindustrialise Germany
Germany : yes yes yes😂😂😂
These workers are dilusional. Some of these technicians make 100k for working in factory. If they get fired today, they wont get another for even 40k. They literally blackmail the company. But ok. Go ahead. Create more trouble. When the company goes belly up, no one will have anything. No job, no salary, neither workers nor CEO.
Mcdonalds will hire them........Part Time.
@@Patrick-yh5yd Right. Learn from Donald Trump. Working at McDonald's part time brought him luck.
no worry ..workers may get money from Government !!
Exactly like Leyland.
@@167mm167yeah...but German government is now busy with Ukraine
Herbert Diess ghost is hunting VW. No one is waiting for German’s slow transitioning into EVs. At least not China. The problem is that German EVs are not as compelling as Tesla and the Chinese EVs.
The decline is going to be fast and painful.
No one is buying EV, even chinese😂
@@saltymonke3682 😏😏😂
@@saltymonke3682 I have seen a 35% p.a. growth rate of EVs in China. That does not seem to confirm your ill-informed comment. No need to put an emoji to laugh at the ineptitude of your comment!
Amazing! No mention of the reason for all of this - the 500% increase in the cost of energy for German industry due its own govt's idiocy. The cost of labor has not changed. The union does not represent the workers.
Electricity costs for industrial purposes:
2021: 21,38 ct per kilowatt-hour
2024: 16,65 ct per kilowatt-hour
@@andreashoner9054 You've got to be joking. Look around, open your eyes and try to tell me that costs are decreasing. The German 'Greens' are burning Australian coal and importing Russian gas from India at 5 times the price of taking it out of a pipe. This does not lower the cost of electricity.
I usually support union in their efforts when companies are doing well. But while the company is struggling this strikes are not going to help them instead might harm them if company just no longer exists.
I feel the CEO should just cut his salaries as measure of good faith and union should end the trike with that.
they blow up gas pipelines, and now gas is not cheap, and they stop sell cars in russia, and they will close factories
Hahahahah VW payed bots are in full force
@@triglavbog7527 Not a bot, this seems like logical bargain. If your employer does not exist it does not benefit you! Specially, when the employer is big part of economy which is already struggling.
😂 😂😂
There was never in the history of capitalism a single good year when the opressors had to pay taxes or wages. Ever!
It’s pretty standard that if your product is comparatively undesirable, it’s going to sell less. Nobody wants a Volkswagen- not because of the price or the brand, but because the cars are uncompetitive.
No more cheap energy. We saw this coming over 2 years ago when sanctions hit and NordStream was destroyed.
German factories are closing down one by one without cheap Russian energy. What do you expect?
They can do coal and/ or SMRs.
Ursula said “why Europe doesn't import CHEAPER natural gas from the US?"
Well they use even cheaper local energy now.
Electricity costs are not the main cost when producing a car. Russian bot
@@xena2559 SMR? When?
Germany's automotive industry is facing overcapacity.
Meanwhile VW executives pocketed millions in bonus
Like the Disneyworld chief.
Those executives are not easily replaceable while those workers are not
yes!! just let the union to manage the company, everything will be fine!!
@@sosososososo4148 You had a stroke while writing this?
@@167mm167 I think they might have had a better chance to be fair.
My wife and her sister both bought new VW cars two years ago, both got rid of them this year. One bought a Toyota and the other a Dodge because both of the VW’s were absolute garbage. They were plagued with problems and break downs. Americans used to love “German engineering,” but people in America are very disappointed in German goods as of the last few years.
Toyota is having quality issues too these days.
Instead of sacking Herbert Dietz, they should have listened to him
Their demands: " more luxurious benefits, less work!"
Considering These companies forced Migration and atroscities Like 2015 new years Sollingen etc on us its more than fair
Will they get 1 million euro annually like their top managers who wrecked the company for that sum?
@@gaborrajnai6213More work, more pay , more productivity, better economy . More intelligence -better comments
@@gaborrajnai6213 well, I guess no one stopped them becoming top managers and getting 1 million annually. Shouldn't be that hard?
Old ways of building cars is unable to compete with Tesla and Chinese manufacturing processes. Will the unions lead the industry to better production methods? I don't think legacy automaker management will either. Something will have to change but all I see right now is finger pointing. At least Nissan and possibly Stellantis will be out of the game soon and some serious corrective actions may happen after they are gone.
@04:35 "Germany is such an export heavy economy" But they were never called out for "overcapacity"
Isn't this even clearer for the company to shut plants in Germany because they have such strikes that gives them problem ?
By all means, spend all the money to move it somewhere else while having a boycott worldwide called for. Those executives at had better have good security because people are good at finding folks these days.
I have to say, as a family that started with VW Beetles in the 70’s and Golfs and Jettas in the 80’s and early 90’s, the overall reliability of VW took a nose dive in the 2000’s to today. From really bad automatic transmission’s, oil sludge issues in motors to failures in body control modules that won’t let the car start (all expensive issues we have experienced personally), VW lost us a long time ago and probably will never get us back…
Blame the countries who bombed the natural gas pipeline which in turn caused the energy cost (and manufacturing cost) in Germany to skyrocket and become uncompetitive.
They should but no western media outlet will say that.
The US ?
LoL don't make a fool of yourself! The German automotive industry was predicted to dive in near future way before that. Even before the war in Ukraine. No innovation and high wages were the final nail in the coffin.
German can't even investigate the Nord Stream.
Ursula said “why Europe doesn't import CHEAPER natural gas from the US?"
Why don't you use that line on your next date ? It will make just as much sense, and I'm sure your bound to score with it.
What did they expect? Citizens of Germany have chosen a green agenda with higher energy costs and EV mandates, thus much lower living standard and higher unemployment. This is all very predictable and this information was available before the elections.
VW Union workers are actually some of the highest paid Labors in EU. VW pays like 1.5x what other automakers and manufacturing industry pays, yet, they want more and blame corporate greed.
People doesn't seem to understand how Investors and Corporation work.
The S&P 500 Index Fund grows like 10-15% anually, if running an expensive and complex operation like a Car making company can't at least double or triple that ROI, why would any investor wants to invest into a Car Company?
Corporate Greed is eating poor man food.
Companies are not able to sell cars and their profits are tumbling. Who will pay salaries to these workers? They dont want workers as productions are going down. Cheap Chinese cars are flooding the markets.
@@Raja-xk3olit’s not chinas problem, they provide a service and a product. It’s upto the German companies to adapt and overcome. They could see this coming a mile away but failed to diversify their fleet. They let Tesla take their markets.
Oh please... It's about the crazy ideologues who run Germany.
Give your life to Jesus before it's too late 🙏
In fact, VW is still making a profit this year.
The reason why they cut workers' salaries is that they want to maintain the income level of executives.
Pay money to Ukraine when our company in Germany are firing
More German factories will close without cheap energy
Agree
The cost of energy is, by itself, the reason of NO plant closure... save perhaps an aluminium smelter! It is a combination of factors, starting by non-competitive products, continuing by inefficient manufacturing (3x the time to assemble a VW than a Tesla, as reported by the VW Chairman himself), dated manufacturing techniques and tooling, high labor costs... and, away down the list, energy price!
Not easy to keep manufacturing to same level as before if people are not buying the product. Question asked by all parties involved is why people are not buying the product and what could be done so the people will buy the product. Until all involved get realistic, nothing will solve and sadly the employees will most likely lose their jobs. Sadly, in all news and elsewhere in Germany, the people involved never seems to ask these two questions and keep blaming external factors. Japanese and Korean cars are doing well elsewhere and even in Germany so that is not the reason.
Japan companies will collapse too. Hyundai/KIA seem to have a good plan with their electric vehicles. ICE is kaput.
@@FrunkensteinVonZipperneck If you think, then you don't know about Japanese companies and their timeline. Hyundai is raking losses even in ICE across Asia. Japanese are not. Japanese are already planned for EV, they are pioneer in Hybrid vehicles and battery technology since decades. Of course, it is not easy competition with Chinese and only in software they can beat Japanese, but they are not good when it comes to reliability and performance because of how much lie about the longevity and so on. Japanese on other hand are some of the very honest nationalities on this planet.
German economy will have that issue in a lot more sectors. Car is a quick industry to notice it because if you are struggling with 2k net a month minus living costs then you will of course not be buying a brand new golf for 30 to 50k Euros. So basically 50% of all newly employeed german employees already are priced out of most of their cars. But ultimately the issue is a lot more systemic, wage are low, living costs are high, energy costs are high, bureacracy, taxes and regulation are high. The result will be less consumer spending, less intake for the economy and lower tax returns which also means Germany will keep cutting self-investments due to their debt ceiling policy. The only way around it is to change the constitution and make heavy investments, but there probably won't be a political majority for that.
Blame management for overseeing the production of poorly designed vehicles. VW is not known for reliable, long-lasting vehicles.
look for Scholz, he is in Kiev, give the money to Ukraine!
Ukraine is more salvageable than VW is! 🤭
This disaster has been in many ways created by Scholz, but they still consider him as future Chancellor. Germany is turning into a huge mental hospital
Even the striking workers would pay 20K to buy a Chinese EV car than 40-50K to buy an overpriced VW equivalent with no hesitation. Cars are not selling for a reason.
If the car industry is so important then why not make good affordable vehicles?
Don’t worry, all will be ok! Ukraine will prevail and Germany just sent 650 million to Zelensky! Zelensky will take care of German citizens and VW,❤❤❤❤❤
When Volkswagen manufactures cars in China for China, then a drop in sales in China means nothing when you look at production lines in Germany.
And giving billions of Euros to shareholders and then claiming there is no money for the workers is simply lies.
China? It’s Toyota, Honda, Subaru, Hyundai and KIa who kick VW out of market all over the world or At least in North America.
Agree. Someone in Germany goofed on the US market. Volkswagen tried to penetrate the American market by alienating it's fanbase. They went from selling European fun drive vehicles to selling overpriced or bland vehicles aren't appealing to most Americans. Then when you throw in the overly touchscreen centric radios and switching from manual gearboxes to GSG you alienated your core customer.
So they never was able to gain any market share from Honda and Toyota while turning off those that like to drive VW's.
😂😂😂😂😂 China EVs.
IG metal is the worst union, the German factory workers salaries are the highest and they don’t allow automation, block every project. The union and employees live in a bubble.
VW should focus on Bicycle’s instead of cars. Green energy and cheaper production cabability’s 🤣💀. !
I think they should switch to armored vehicles.
how about make simple & cheap cars?
@@YSKWatch German workers and cheap don't go together. Their wages and benefits are among the highest in the world.
Big Problems ... Over Capacity, Over Product, Over Pricing and Now a Shrinking Global Trade !!
- And China inherents the world...!
China is collapsing as we speak. They are not going inherit anything.
German can ask support from US, you’re friends… US will help you 😊
No, Germany is the US' puppet.
Dear VW.
All you need to do is make an $20,000 EV with windup windows that goes from A to B.
We never bought Beetles, Golfs & Minibuses for their features and safety
They produce unreliable, disposable cars at an abnormal price and then complain 😂
I laugh when union workers or any workers for that matter demand job security ?? sure in a perfect world it would be great but thats not reality .The only people who come close are those lazy bureaucrats in Brussels , they seem to be exempt from layoffs
Spiraling manufacturing costs??? Could that have anything to do with switching from ultra cheap Russian natural gas to ultra expensive US natural gas?
Fight for the right to be unemployed
Instead of sending money for war in Ukraine help your industry that hired your people
Without safe boarders and with strong military pressure from the east you will spend way more on your own defence…or you will be made to feed the enemy (RUS) army.
Not related and not to be considered here.
Germany can sacrifice all industries for "western values"
Birhan, go elsewhere to earn those money you need to put bread on the table for your swarm of kids.
Rubles cannot pay for that much, unless you live in abject poverty...
@@ph33316 actually its help. china industry become monster Because its government money injection....
Maybe they should be angry with the Govt picking fights with its biggest, cheapest and most reliable energy supplier. 😂😂
Voters need to remember in the comming election.
@mgronich948 I doubt it..
Such logic is too complicated for them considering what's going on there.
By the way China building entrepreneurship all over Africa….duty free ….No tariff ,No sanction
The German auto industry has been dependent on great advertising here in the US for decades. At some point people will start noticing that their cars are a terrible value. Then things will really crash.
Corporate forgots unions in social democracies.
No fan or modern corporate bs... but, it sounds like they are already struggling. So if you strike or threaten to quit, sounds like they will just take it, since they are downsizing or going bust anyways.
They laughed at Tesla and ignored them.. until Tesla rewrote the book and the Germans didn't do anything to compete
the decline of the european automakers are more to do with some odd european standards and the rush to to everything to EV; EU governments should take a look at the mirror and change the unrealistic plans
When sales are down and you're losing money it's time to lay people off. It's called reality. I don't think Germany will continue as a prosperous country if it denies reality.
Could it be the fact Germany no longer gets cheap Russian gas due to nord stream and having to pay for higher prices for US NLG so costs are going up the roof just saying
Imagine how successful Germany would be if it got the same support Zelensky got from Germany? 🇩🇪.
It is strange that German workers don't understand that they have no leverage if their factory is already on the chopping block.
This is result of poor education in Germany
When such assumptions were made, they should prefer that factory will not close instead of asking higher wages 😢
No worries guys. Olaf will be changing your luck with his Focus India
VW is a failing company, where do the employees think they're going to get the money from to pay them more? They should leave to companies not on the decline before they get forced out with redundancies. The strikes only quicken VW's demise. China and Tesla are the future for car manufacturing and many legacy brands will shrink or cease to exist entirely, striking and asking for money that isn't there isn't going to help the situation.
And they think business will ever come to Germany after seeing this ? This great country (once) look after outsider than its own and this is the result. As I always see look out for your family first rather than sending aid to a country for fight.
This is British Leyland / Rover all over again. Build quality, corporate greed and the blaming of environmental standards for being unable to compete.
Everyone around the world knows that germany future is tourism. 13 years ago german gpd was 3 times bigger than california. Now California has a bigger gdp.
Tourism? 😂
@@soil-play Well, I think Europe as a whole is on its way to become a service-sector oriented economy. The way technological advancements happen is by their nature exponential, so it is more likely that innovation will keep picking up elsewhere giving them competitive edge on AI, digitalization and new technologies while Europe may become more focused on tertiary sector economy than industry. In Germany the share of industry employment went down by 6% in the past 20 years already (which does not seem much but is a drop from 30% to 24% of employment in the sector since 2000).
If company sells less cars. Where will the money is going come from to pay all those people??? From the trees??? we have to be real with reality
i think Europeans will be looking at a quality of life similar to what South East Asians had maybe 10 years ago.
30 years ago.
@ no it wont be that bad i dont think. It just prob will never be as agood as it has been but it wont be severe.
I think at this point Germany is cooked.
I sympathise with these guys but you can't protest to keep stores , factories etc open. You can force employers to pay a minimum wage for example. But you can't force them to pay NO wages by shutting down all together. Or by moving overseas. Unless you manage to enslave them obviously.
Germany hasn't diversify enough in other industries. This is a single point failure and it will suck for workers in this industry.
keep waisting money on ukraine...
nothing to do with Volkswagen. I really question the motives of your comment.
@@ThePilotGear why are you concerned with me... its not about me... silly.
germany have billions for ukraine not for their own?
"Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for Ukraine"
😂😂😂@@jogana6909
Why should taxpayers loose billions into rescuing uneconomical industries?
Handouts are not profitable
the received billions will be used for executive bonus or stock buyback. not to increase their competitiveness.
Where development stops deterioration sets in the case of VW.
They are to blame themselves for this. Blindly following bosch inputs, promoting over engineering like Autosar..time to get back to basics and eliminate waste like A-Spice.. just follow iso for efficiency...
dacia is expensive ... vw costs as much as an apartment ....
Afterwards, when you have a hearse-type design, it doesn't make you want to ,Not to mention that they pay the workers 4000 euros to tighten screws.
Germany is losing its primacy in the auto industry and it seems to be an irreversible process. In ancient times, they made very high-quality vehicles, Mercedes 123-124, Golf 2, Audi 80. Those vehicles are still used today. I have an Audi 80 from 1991. It is still excellent and will outlast all Audis after 2010. It is said that these vehicles are the biggest German mistake because they last and last and do not break down.
Not mentioning diesel gate and billions in fines
The CEO can expect another multillion dollar payout while he blames China.
Don’t moan about the cheating scandal with fume emissions. You should still be fined by the uk for that one. Never buy a German car.
Germany assured more than 650 millions Euro to Ukraine.😂😂😂😂
If one day, need to close VW to support Ukraine, I believe German PM will not hesitate.
@jogana6909 Purchase one big lock from market.😂
R.I.P Germany😢
VW makes a lot of their wiring harnesses in Ukraine...
A drop in the ocean. €10 per person
Volkswagen will survive. Its offices in Germany and factories in Eastern Europe, Mexico, etc. will remain. But its factories in Germany and German factory workers may disappear.
Hard time for German, what too do with all mergels friends who is in Europe,
Most vehicle manufactures are in a race to the bottom of quality, no doubt about it
When ''Supply and Demand'' backfire
What about the dividends
It's not Volkswagens, its Germany's fault
A former employer of mine also said they were in "emergency mode". A year later they didn't exist anymore.
It may be dangerous to be America's Enemy but to be America's friend is fatal....Inexpensive Russian Energy was key to the European Economy. Our American commentator could not help herself but throw in the human rights comment about the Uighurs. The U.S. is attacking the European Economy...
Thank you for the feedback as always
If the company does sell more cars, it can't keep factories open, neither can it guarantee job security. Yes, people will lose even if they protest for a year.
Has anybody heard of sound editing? Please turn the volume of the interview during translations/voiceovers. Other than that, thank you very much for the reportage.
In Germany it takes a few years to rebuild a simple street. Germany does not stand a chance against change. It is like a turtle.