Opinion
At VW, things aren’t just grinding, they’re crashing: management and employees are fighting for jobs and locations. The “Volkswagen system” is in danger of imploding. Finally! It’s about time.
It’s like an accident in super slow motion: the VW Group is about to hit the wall. The collapse of the “Volkswagen system” is neither a surprise nor the fault of anyone else. On the contrary: it is long overdue and absolutely deserved.
VW’s problems are of its own making, and their cause lies deep in the company’s DNA. Since 1960, the car manufacturer has been following what today seems like a crazy plan. That is when the “VW Law” came into force.
Its key points: The state-owned company will become a stock corporation. The state of Lower Saxony will have a right of veto in important decisions such as changes to the statutes or location issues.
VW is at the mercy of two foreign powers
In addition, a two-thirds majority is required on the supervisory board if the VW board wants to build or relocate production facilities. However, half of the supervisory board consists of employee representatives, who can therefore prevent such decisions – and have done so time and again.
Germany’s largest company and the world’s largest car manufacturer in terms of sales is therefore at the mercy of two powers whose ultimate priorities are job cuts and savings: the Lower Saxony state government and the IG Metall trade unionists.
These two parties would certainly oppose a possible solution to the crisis at VW: reducing production in Germany in order to build new plants in important sales countries with lower wage levels.
New scrapping bonus is not a solution
Deciding on a new scrappage bonus will only solve Volkswagen’s problems in the short term. The VW law needs to be fundamentally revised. “Car Pope” Ferdinand Dudenhöffer recently even said: “The VW law is deadly, it must go urgently.”
The current crisis at VW is a necessary evil. In the best case scenario, it will force the company to finally become a real market economy company and throw off the shackles of the VW law. This is the only way the car manufacturer can rethink its business model and reorient itself.
Volkswagen still has some of the best engineers and the best technology in the world – and therefore the potential to return to its former strength. The pressure of the current crisis can be used to take what is perhaps the most important and painful step in the company’s history: to stop desperately producing in Germany.
Source: Stern
