Matthias Muller, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Group, seemed strangely optimistic, despite the fact that the company he now runs posted its first loss in 15 years.
In his first public outing after the group announced an operating loss of €3.48 billion ($3.86 billion) in the third quarter, Muller said working for Volkswagen would be an entirely different experience. The old “Let's dominate the world” mantra has gone out the window, replaced by passion for carmaking.
While the former CEO, Martin Winterkorn, liked to feverishly attack every niche and looked at the most minute details, his successor will do the exact opposite. The nearly 300 vehicles assembled by over one dozen brands will be carefully scrutinized.
Remember that Strategy 2018 plan mister Winterkorn outlined a few years back? It's gone, as Muller sees keeping the customers happy as being of higher priority than being the world's biggest carmaker. A new plan called Strategy 2025 will take its place and should be outlined early next year.
“We have to look beyond the current situation and create the conditions for Volkswagen’s successful further development,” said Muller in Wolfsburg on Wednesday. “Volkswagen will emerge from the current situation stronger than before. Our customers are at the core of everything that our 600,000 employees worldwide do. ”
Organic growth after artificial loss
According to Muller, the point is not to sell 100,000 more or fewer vehicles than a major competitor. Instead, the real issue is qualitative growth and, of course, keeping those people who bought the affected diesel engines happy.
Of course, Volkswagen's boat didn't suddenly spring a leak. The 3.48 billion euros that have seemingly gone out the window come as a result of the fact that they set 6.7 billion aside to cover the repairs.
While Muller's optimistic words make us think back to lovely cars like the Beetle or Corrado, they are not what investors tuned in to hear. They want to know how much money fixing 11 million cars will cost them and what other pitfalls may exist (fines, class action lawsuits, etc.)
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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