For several years, Germany’s Volkswagen has produced more cars in China than in Germany, making most of its investments there. Two years ago, Stephan Wöllenstein, who then headed VW China, told the Wirtschaftswoche that the group would be able to produce 5 million cars per year in its Chinese plants and that production capacity would be expanded to 6 million cars by 2030.
Six million cars? According to Wirtschaftswoche now, the group expects to sell just over 2.5 million vehicles this year instead of 4million; assuming an average price of €25,000, this corresponds to a loss of €37.5 billion . With a production capacity of 5 million vehicles, the annual loss in sales would add up to €62.5 billion. And because VW has particularly high profit margins in China, the following applies: without the VW China problems, VW would have several billion euros more profit in its coffers, would not face problems in Germany, no drastic cost-cutting plan, and there would be no strikes in Germany now.
