Dusseldorf Over the past few weeks, the works council and the owners have not only fought for the future of Volkswagen Group boss Herbert Diess in Wolfsburg. The future model allocation of the largest German car plants such as in Wolfsburg and Hanover and the associated investments were also controversial.
Now there is an agreement on the most important issues. In the next five years, the group is expected to invest around 160 billion euros. The VW supervisory board must finally release the money on Thursday.
The main plant in Wolfsburg was at the heart of the dispute with the employees. Around 13,000 employees work in production alone; there are a good 60,000 people across the site. Wolfsburg is still the heart of the group. The industrial city in eastern Lower Saxony is also the center of power for the works council and IG Metall.
That is why works council chairman Daniela Cavallo has made a particular effort to ensure that the Wolfsburg headquarters receive clear and unambiguous investment commitments as part of the current planning round. The future of vehicle production there is to be secured for the next few decades at a cost of billions.
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Cavallo also defends itself against the accusation that the main plant has always been too unproductive. “When it comes to factory costs, Wolfsburg ranks first in the domestic German VW group comparison, across all brands. Something like that is always often forgotten in the discussion, ”she said in an interview with the Handelsblatt in November. CEO Diess had previously startled the group when he calculated a job cut of 30,000 jobs for Wolfsburg.
Volkswagen plans to start production of its new “Trinity” model series in 2026. These are state-of-the-art electric cars that should definitely be competitive with Tesla models – with a greater range, faster charging and better software equipment.
Tesla comparison: ten hours for a car
At Volkswagen, there has been an internal struggle over the past few months as to how the new “Trinity” models can be manufactured most efficiently. The target is ten hours of production time for a single car, and US competitor Tesla has a similar time.
A first preliminary decision has been made within the VW group, only the supervisory board still has to give its approval: The car manufacturer wants to build a completely new plant for the “Trinity” series. Not directly at the headquarters, but probably in the Wolfsburg area. Estimated costs: around one billion euros. A new factory guarantees the highest productivity values, the old main factory would first have to be converted at great expense.
Volkswagen calculates with a four to five year planning and construction phase for the new plant. Therefore, the board of directors must definitely release the money this Thursday in order to be able to meet the schedule for the “Trinity” factory. The start of construction is planned for the year 2024, VW calculates with a construction time of 18 to 24 months. 5000 people will later assemble cars in the new factory.
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Works council boss Cavallo is worried about the Wolfsburg location for another reason. She fears that the main plant could be left behind technologically if electric cars are not produced there until 2026 as part of the “Trinity” project. Currently only combustion models and a few plug-in hybrids are manufactured at the headquarters, above all the Golf and Tiguan. Wolfsburg should get the first real electric cars two years earlier, according to the works council.
A compromise proposal is now available for this wish on the part of the employees, which is to be approved by the Supervisory Board on Thursday. Accordingly, Wolfsburg is likely to take over partial production of the ID.3 from 2024. The car has so far been produced at the VW plant in Zwickau. Volkswagen expects that the demand for electric vehicles will increase strongly in the next few years. Wolfsburg could cover this additional demand.
Problems at the Hanover location
Another point of conflict in the current investment planning was the commercial vehicle plant in Hanover. Just a year ago in the planning round at that time, the group had actually decided that the factory in Hanover would be building new premium electric cars from the Porsche, Audi and Bentley brands in a few years.
But in the meantime the Stuttgart sports car subsidiary has left the joint project. Instead, Porsche wants to produce its future electric model independently at the Leipzig plant. A replacement had to be found for this, the factory in Lower Saxony cannot be filled with Audi and Bentley vehicles alone.
Employees and management have also found a solution for Hanover. The van factory will also produce future leisure and camping models of the new ID.Buzz electric bus. This should largely fill the gap caused by Porsche. The plant will also work for Audi and manufacture electrical platforms for the new Q8, which will roll off the assembly line in the Audi factory in Brussels in a few years.
Last year, the VW supervisory board approved a five-year investment plan with a volume of 150 billion euros. Bernstein auto analyst Arndt Ellinghorst reckons that it will be a little more this year at 160 billion euros. “60 percent of this should be used for electromobility and digitization,” he said.
In addition to the investment plan, the Volkswagen supervisory board also wants to resolve changes in the group’s executive board on Thursday. CEO Herbert Diess will probably give up a large part of his operational tasks and concentrate on the corporate strategy in the future. To this end, new board members move up to the top management body.
New China and new brand boss
The new head of China is expected to be Ralf Brandstätter, previously Chairman of the Board of Management of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand. The Wolfsburg-based car company is experiencing considerable difficulties in China, its largest sales market. With Brandstätter, Wolfsburg sends a top manager to the People’s Republic. This is to guarantee that there will really be a change for the better. Thomas Schäfer, who is currently still at the helm of the Czech subsidiary Skoda, is to be the successor as head of the VW brand.
Herbert Diess will also hand over his responsibility for group sales. Hildegard Wortmann should therefore move into the board for him; she currently heads the sales department at Audi. In addition, VW chief legal advisor Manfred Döss should take over the legal department. In February, he is to succeed Hiltrud Werner, who is leaving the post after five years. Hauke Stars, who was with Deutsche Börse last year, will take over the new IT department.
More: Shift in power at Volkswagen: This is what the solution to the dispute over Herbert Diess should look like