“The existence of the company is in danger”

The Volkswagen Group is at risk of collapse. That, at least, is what six out of nine managers think behind closed doors, according to the German newspaper Manager Magazine. The media assures that the company has conducted an internal survey of its top managers and two out of three agree with its diagnosis.

“The company is in danger”. This is what six out of nine managers have answered, according to this German media, to the question of an internal survey that has been circulated among the company’s top leaders. The other three, always according to information from Manager Magazinedescribed the company’s situation as “tense.”

The survey has moved among the board of directors through a management consulting company that is analyzing the internal way of working. And the result has been overwhelming: the Volkswagen model is sold out.

Some discrepancies. In the German environment Elektroauto They expand the information ensuring that the company that carried out the survey is Boston Consulting Group and that the eight boards of directors of the group and Michael Leiters, head of Porsche, have participated in it.

But, without a doubt, the most problematic thing is that, according to this medium specialized in the electricity market, there was no internal consensus on the functioning of the board of directors. Four members of the board of directors assure that the management is united but four others denied it. A position, the latter, that was repeated among eleven of the 14 people who make up the Company Supervisory Board.

Same old problems. Among those surveyed, the German media agree, the problems that Volkswagen has on the table seem clear:

A perfect storm. Volkswagen’s financial situation is not a coincidence, it is the result of multiple factors in which the coin has come out tails (they have more or less responsibility as a company).

In China, the market has turned to local manufacturers. Companies are managing to sell more striking and advanced products than traditional manufacturers but, above all, they are doing so at a much more competitive price. They have entered into a price war that threatens to take manufacturers ahead and is fueled by a public that feels pride in buying Chinese products to the detriment of what comes from abroad.

In the United States, tariffs imposed by the Government are severely punishing factories located in Mexico but they have also made the product manufactured within the country itself more expensive because there are pieces that continue to cross the border even if they are assembled on American soil. And brands like Porsche, which have the United States as their big market, They do not manufacture a single car within the country.

The result. Volkswagen’s accounts are compromised because investments in the electric car and some concepts that revolve around it have not yielded good results. For example, Cariad, the company dedicated exclusively to producing the software for its future vehicles, it has turned out to be a disaster and has forced important cars to be delayed for Audi or Porsche.

This, added to the fact that the electric embrace of the public has not arrived when expected, has sunk the profit of Volkswagen, Seat/Cupra or Porsche, they point out in the German newspaper Welt. For its part, Bentley is also showing red numbers and Audi has entered a lethargy from which it wants to escape with ambitious new proposals to recover brand image.

In doubt. In the internal survey that has been carried out within the company, some managers have indicated that they find it impossible to comply with the monetary adjustments announced by Oliver Blume, its CEO, years ago. They consider that to carry out these adjustments it is even necessary to cancel the development of new platforms for future vehicles, according to Elektroauto.

In 2025, The Volkswagen Group recorded its worst data in the income statement since 2016when they came marked by the Dieselgate. All of this has led to the unanimity of the board of directors, the nine people that comprise it, thinking that it is necessary for the company to redefine its strategy and its business model, according to the German media.

Photo | Volkswagen

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