Internal Board Survey Reveals Deepening Crisis at Volkswagen as Six of Nine Directors See Existential Threat
23.06.2026 - 23:31:35 | boerse-global.de
A confidential assessment among Volkswagen’s top leadership has laid bare the severity of the carmaker’s troubles: six of the nine board members now describe the company’s situation as "existentially threatening," while the remaining three call it merely "tense." All agree the current strategy needs radical overhaul, particularly in China and North America, according to media reports.
The internal alarm comes as the company’s preferred shares tumbled on Monday to €77.88, a 15-year low, dragging the market capitalisation to roughly €43.23 billion — putting Volkswagen level with Mercedes. First-quarter 2026 earnings underscore the pain: net profit plunged 44 percent to €6.9 billion, with the operating margin slumping to just 3.3 percent. HSBC has downgraded the stock; Barclays trimmed its price target to €120 but still ranks the shares as a "top pick" in Europe.
Volkswagen’s response includes a drastic restructuring programme that will shed up to 50,000 jobs group-wide by 2030, 35,000 of them at the core VW brand alone. Some of those cuts have already been achieved through voluntary departures. Production lines are being shifted: from 2027 the Golf will be assembled in Mexico, not Germany. Cost controls have tightened; since 1 June, new rules for company-car users restrict fuel choices and limit monthly car washes.
A bright spot is the software subsidiary Cariad, which opened a new Berlin campus on Tuesday. Some 1,000 developers there will work on artificial intelligence and systems for autonomous driving. CEO Oliver Blume acknowledged at the launch that VW has been "rightly criticised" in this area, but pointed to a partnership with US manufacturer Rivian and a tripling of patents as evidence that the group can reclaim a leadership role in software-defined vehicles.
Workforce sentiment, however, remains raw. At a works meeting in Baunatal, works council chief Carsten BĂĽchling accused top management of a "communications disaster" in front of roughly 6,000 employees, saying the lack of a clear 2030 vision and the cost-cutting drive have deeply unsettled staff. HR board member Anika Stappenbeck travelled from Wolfsburg to address the information gaps. Local workers described morale as "very poor."
At Audi’s Ingolstadt plant, works council head Jörg Schlagbauer demanded concrete perspectives for the site. "Audi must deliver extraordinary performance," he warned. Deputy Rita Beck added that factory utilisation will determine the future. Labour Director Xavier Ros stressed that only joint action can protect jobs.
External analysis by the Boston Consulting Group confirms the picture: costs are too high, efficiency too low. Sales targets for China have already been cut to 3.2 million vehicles, and US tariffs are weighing on results by roughly $4 billion annually.
Analysts now look to the supervisory board meeting on 9 July and the release of half-year results on 24 July 2026 for clearer signals on the future direction. Until then, the question hanging over Wolfsburg is whether Volkswagen can steer itself out of the crisis — or whether it will sink deeper.
