Volkswagen's Cost-Cutting Clock Is Ticking as Pötsch Presses for Speed
Published on 11/11/2026 at 14:51 | Editorial boerse-global.de
Volkswagen's largest shareholder has run out of patience. Hans Dieter Pötsch, who chairs both the Porsche Automobil Holding SE board and the carmaker's supervisory board, wants the group's competitiveness drive delivered without delay — lower costs, higher profitability, faster execution. His remarks, reported by media yesterday, landed as the stock shed 2.4%.
The pressure is easy to understand. Volkswagen's nine-month figures, released on 29 October, laid bare the scale of the problem: a net loss after tax of EUR 2.72 billion for the first three quarters of 2026, with roughly EUR 5.82 billion of that shortfall booked in the third quarter alone. US tariffs, a contracting Chinese market, tougher competition in Europe and the price of restructuring all weighed on the result.
A Profit Engine Running on Fumes
At the operating line, the picture is starker still. Nine-month operating profit collapsed to EUR 0.1 billion from EUR 5.4 billion a year earlier, on revenue of EUR 233.4 billion. Strip out special items and the group earned EUR 8.8 billion, a return on sales of 3.8%. The reported quarterly operating loss came in at EUR 5,860 million, leaving just EUR 71 million of operating profit for the January-to-September stretch — a result Volkswagen itself described as proof that action is urgently needed.
Management's full-year guidance points to revenue of around EUR 315 billion and an operating margin of up to 1%. The Core brand group offered little comfort on 30 October: its operating return slipped to 4.1% from 4.4% over the same nine months, hit by fiercer competition, heavier sales incentives, negative mix effects and one-offs.
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Wolfsburg's Development Freeze
Product plans are already feeling the strain. Brand chief Thomas Schäfer confirmed to Reuters on 30 October that work on the electric Golf — the ID. Golf — has been halted, citing outstanding cost reductions and a roughly EUR 300 million target gap at the Wolfsburg plant this year. The aim is to restart as quickly as possible, he said, but the project's future now hinges on closing that cost hole.
Zwickau hangs over the picture as well. The group is weighing whether to wind down operations at the site, a decision that would carry consequences for employees and suppliers alike. For shareholders, the consideration matters only to the extent it feeds into a workable concept — the mere scale of the idea offers no reliable gauge of future earnings.
A Semiconductor Bet on 2027
There is at least one forward-looking thread. On 26 October Volkswagen and NXP Semiconductors agreed a strategic chip partnership that will put NXP microcontrollers at the heart of the group's forthcoming zonal vehicle architecture, with the first vehicle built on it slated for 2027. Deliver on that rollout alongside genuine cost discipline, and the group would be tackling its economic problems while building for the future.
The risk is timing. The paused ID. Golf shows that pending savings are already disrupting development work. If Volkswagen cannot clear such bottlenecks, the recovery simply slips.
Bernstein Restarts Coverage at 80 Euros
Weighing it all, Bernstein Research resumed coverage of Volkswagen last Thursday with a "Market-Perform" rating and an EUR 80 price target — a measured stance that captures the standoff: a better valuation requires the operating weakness to be genuinely overcome, and any delay in execution shifts the balance toward the risks.
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Today's UBS European Conference 2026 in London gives management a fresh platform to flesh out the plan. How cost cuts and product development are knitted together, and what shape any site measures take, are the details investors will be listening for. Concrete answers on lifting operating earnings would carry more weight than the breadth of the initiative itself.
Labour is on its own timetable. The next confirmed date with IG Metall is 24 November 2026, when wage talks open in Emden, with a further round set for 15 December 2026 in Zwickau. Whether Volkswagen can convert its restructuring into measurable financial progress — rather than letting further development steps stall while earnings stay flat — is the question that will decide how the stock trades from here.
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