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Is VW's restructuring plan enough to save the German carmaker · DEEP INSIGHT

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I'm here today with the SPD economic expert, Armand Zorn,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: to talk about the new decisions at Volkswagen. And obviously,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: this is something that is very close to the heart
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: of Germany's social democrats, the SPD.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Mr.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Zorn, thank you very much for your time. Will the
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: measures that were decided by the supervisory board of Volkswagen
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: save Volkswagen?
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: Well, first of all, I want to say I'm extremely
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: relieved that finally we got an agreement. It was quite
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: important that we make sure that there is an agreement.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: We were talking about a couple of scenarios that were
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: really not good at all, not for the workers, not
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: for the management, not for Germany in general. So what
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: we have on the table, it's a plan for the future.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: We still need to work on that, so nothing has
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: changed right now, but we do have a plan and
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: we do have a chance to make things right and
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: to make Volkswagen successful successful again.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Could you maybe outline for our viewers what to you
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: are the most important points of that decision?
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: I think the most important point is that Volkswagen will
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: continue to invest, invest in new technology. We're talking about
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: 135 billions. I think that's quite important that in times
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: where you are in distress, in times where the competition
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: is really tough, it's important to think about the new product.
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: And this investment is exactly what we need when we're
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: talking about the future of automotive in Germany. But I
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: also want to say that when we're looking at the
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: different workers, I want to say that it's quite important
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: that jobs are going to be secure. There's a clear
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: mandate for the management to find a solution for all
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: the workers and make sure that at the end of
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: the day, we're not going to have cuts on the
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: back of the workers.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: But we're still talking about 50,000 jobs. 50,000 people will
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: lose their jobs with Volkswagen. That is enormous. So aren't
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: you portraying this maybe in a too positive light, too
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: much of a positive light for the workers of Volkswagen?
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: No, not at all, not at all. But I'm comparing
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: to where we started. And if you remember where we started,
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: we were talking about a lot more people that would
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: lose their jobs. And the 50,000, we're talking about 50,000
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: across all different locations of Volkswagen, and also what is important,
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: including management level, because it's not fair that at the
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: end of the day, only workers are losing their jobs.
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: So I believe that when we're looking at it on
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: a more global level, when we're looking at the challenges
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: we're currently facing, when we're looking at the solutions on
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: the table, obviously 50,000 people losing their job, that's never
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: a good answer. But I believe that we will be
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: able to save so many other jobs, and that's why
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: I believe, based on the current situation, that's something we
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: can work on.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: But still, the question whether this will save Volkswagen as
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: a whole has its justification, because Volkswagen is far behind
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: Chinese companies when it comes, for example, to producing competitive
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: electric vehicles. Will this, so I repeat, will this save Volkswagen?
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: Well, we hope so. And I think that's one step
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: into the right direction, to be honest. I want to
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: say that I feel like the management of the automotive
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: managers in the automotive industry is They have focused very
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: much in the past about regulation, about a combustion engine,
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: for example, and maybe not looked very closely into innovation,
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: into autonomous driving, into e-vehicles and so on and so forth.
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: So why I'm so positive or why I'm relatively positive
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: about the plan of Volkswagen is that we will shift
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: the debate. We're shifting the debate and we're saying that
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: competitiveness matters. And growth is not coming through cuts. It's
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: not about cutting costs. It's not about laying people off.
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: But we need to understand that, yes, we need operational excellence.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: That's important, of course. But on top of that, we
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: need investment in modern and new technology. And I believe
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: that if we do the things right, then this can
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: be a solution for Germany.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: What kind of policy would you want to see to
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: protect German carmakers, including Volkswagen, of course, against Chinese carmakers?
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and then we need to look at our homeworks
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: as policymaker. We need to look at what we can
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: do as German government, but also on the European level.
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: And my political party, we have been arguing in favor
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: of made in Europe and made in Europe principle, saying
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: that at the end of the day, we need to
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: make sure that we protect our German industries. And we
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: make sure that we have subsidies that are only directed
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: to German and European car makers.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: Because right now, Chinese car makers are also being subsidized
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: if a private person buys a Chinese electric car, correct?
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. And that's something we need to change. That's why
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: the Industrial Accelerator Act on the European level is quite important.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: And that's why also on the national level, we need
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: to have the safeguards in place. We need to make
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: sure that we protect our European single market. And to
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: be fair, let's ask ourselves the questions. Do German car makers,
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: European car makers benefit from Chinese subsidies? No, that's not
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: the case. So why should we do that?
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: And where do you feel when it comes to competitiveness
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: of German car makers and also the prices for the cars?
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: Do you really feel like German car makers stand a
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: chance against the Chinese even if the legislation you just
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: mentioned would be passed and enacted?
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: Well, that's a very good question. And it depends on
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: if we're having a fair competition because the reason why
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: Chinese cars are so popular relatively low, the costs are
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: relatively low, the prices are relatively low, is because of
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: unfair competition, if I may say. Because there are so
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: many cars that are not there. There are so many
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: subsidies from the Chinese government. And also the question of
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: the evaluation, the under-evaluation of the Chinese yuan is definitely
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: a big question. But I believe for us, for Germany,
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: for Europe, there's a case where our cars can play
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: a big role. And VW, Volkswagen, is doing the right
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: thing in focusing on less products. not having so many models,
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: not having so many products, but reducing the complexity, reducing
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: the different products and focusing on one or few products.
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: I think that's quite important. And I also want to
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: say that we in Germany and we in Europe, we
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: still have a lot of potential also because we are
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: not really digitized and because we're not fully using AI,
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: physical AI, industrial AI. So I believe that there's room
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: for improvement. There's a lot of potential and that's where
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: we need to go. Mr.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: Zorn, thank you very much for talking to us.
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: Thank you very much.