Volkswagen is 'no longer a competitive brand', admits VW head

He warned that high costs and low productivity have made the brand's cars uncompetitive.

According to a media report, VW brand chief, Thomas Schaefer, has stated that the Volkswagen car brand is 'no longer competitive'.

The VW chief made the statement at a staff meeting at the brand's headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany. He warned that high costs and low productivity have made the brand's cars uncompetitive. Schaefer stated, "With many of our pre-existing structures, processes and high costs, we are no longer competitive as the Volkswagen brand."

The Volkswagen Group, which owns multiple car brands including the likes of Skoda & Porsche has introduced a 10 billion euro savings programme. This cost-cutting scheme will include staff reductions. Gunnar Killian, Human Resources Board Member, stated in the same meeting that the brand will also look at agreements on partial or early retirements. While Killian added that the 10 billion euro goal won't be achieved solely through personnel reduction, he stopped short of mentioning any further details of the VW Group's plan.

Killian did state, "We need to finally be brave and honest enough to throw things overboard that are being duplicated within the company or are simply ballast we don't need for good results."

Source: Reuters