It is one of the three biggest carmakers in the world, with a dominant market share of some 21 per cent in its home market - which actually grew in the recent past. Yet both from a strategic and a global perspective, the Wolfsburgers are under marked pressure.
The corporation is among those traditional German industrial behemoths that got used to a comfortable market position, complete with above-average employee compensation and lavish management structures. In its sometimes arrogant self-assuredness, VW first perpetrated one of the biggest corporate scandals in German economic history when it twisted the measurement of its cars' carbon emissions, only to then miss out on the electric revolution. At the same time, the OEM became much too dependent on its China activities developing into a separate minefield on its own, while pivoting aggressively towards Mexico in its North American operations.
All these chickens now come home to roost, and Volkswagen owned up to as much when it presented its most recent quarterly report this week. Profits are severely down, market share outside of Germany is stagnating at best, and guidance aims for meagre growth - even before taking into account the looming tariff wars initiated by the Trump administration.
Downright irritating, however, is the company's statement of today (March 13th), only two days after its quarterly numbers, that it is going to push its ambitious margin improvement targets three years down the road. Investors are scratching their heads as to why VW didn't say so when they had the chance two days before, thus setting a huge question mark behind its anyway muted guidance.
The announcement of new models in the value segments of the market (EV first and foremost) gives at least some comfort, but that will take considerable time to have an effect on VW's prospects. Thus, for the time being, the Wolfsburgers have a decidedly negative balance of pro and cons.
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