“VW’s reality test”

VW’s future will be sealed in the coming weeks during negotiations between management and unions about a “future pact” to make the company fit for the pending mobility transformation, writes Carsten Germis in a commentary for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. VW’s core brand requires a radical overhaul and will have to produce more with less people to withstand new competitors, according to Germis. But the powerful unions will defend vested interests and only allow cuts where they don’t hurt anyone. “Even so, without radical change there might soon be nothing left to defend,” writes the author.

For background on the mobility challenges for the car industry, read the CLEW dossier The Energiewende and German carmakers and the factsheet Dieselgate forces VW to embrace green mobility.