Skip to main content

VW Cutting Number of Euro Powertrain Offerings in $3.4B Cost Cutting Move

Volkswagen announced plans to trim another $3.4 billion from its operating costs by 2020 during a press conference in Wolfsburg today. The automaker will be “discontinuing 25% of engine and gearbox variants across Europe,” VW chief operating officer Ralf Brandstätter told Autocar, a move that will help it to simplify and streamline its business in the region. It also plans on reducing the complexity of various trim levels and equipment packages for its cars. VW said that it will be looking at removing trim levels or model variants with “low customer demand.”

Cutting back on administrative expenses will also be part of the cost control measures. The automaker has reduced its workforce by around 5,600 employees and a further 9,600 have signed early retirement agreements.

“By 2020 we will achieve three billion euros in cost savings, and now aim for a further three billion euros by 2023,” VW board member Arno Antlitz said during the conference.

In addition to the cost control measures, VW is also hoping to increase its plant productivity by 30% by 2025.

The end goal for VW is to boost profit margins to 6 percent by 2022, which is three years earlier than it had previously hoped to achieve the goal.

At the same time, VW will sink more than 11 billion euros into various mobility-related business operations by 2023, with the bulk of that going toward electric and autonomous vehicles.

“We must force the pace of our transformation and become more efficient and agile,” Brandstätter said. “We cannot let up in our efforts and must realize further substantial improvements. What we have achieved so far is still not enough.”

a version of this article first appeared on AutoGuide

The post VW Cutting Number of Euro Powertrain Offerings in $3.4B Cost Cutting Move appeared first on VWVortex.



from VWVortex https://ift.tt/2zHNTjO
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Waterfest Moves to Atco Dragway

Waterfest 24 will be held at Atco Dragway, in Atco, New Jersey. The summer event will take place at its new venue on July 21 and 22. Long held in Englishtown, New Jersey, the festival has been such a large part of the VW scene that the latest iteration of the Golf even comes with optional “Englishtown” wheels . The new venue, however, is an NHRA drag track a scant 52 miles southwest of Englishtown. The ¼ mile drag track opened in 1960, which makes it the oldest drag strip in New Jersey. The announcement came today on a social media post that announced the new location. Waterfest is North America’s largest VW/Audi show. As many 20,000 people show up for the annual show, making the second largest show in the world—with Worthersee being number one. 2018 will be Waterfest’s 24 th year in existence. The post Waterfest Moves to Atco Dragway appeared first on VWVortex . from VWVortex http://ift.tt/2GQjkuc via IFTTT
Post a Comment
Read more

Macau Gets Messy with 16-Car Pileup

The Macau Grand Prix is always good for an accident or two or 16— you may remember Audi’s race ending crash last year —and this year’s event didn’t disappoint. It didn’t take long for things to get messy on the tight road circuit. On the opening lap of the qualifying race a 16-car pileup caused the race to be suspended. Things kicked off when Daniel Juncadella hit a wall on the exit of Police bend, one of the tightest parts of the already tight circuit. The following car of Raffaele Marciello was able to avoid the carnage, but Laurens Vanthoor, who was in the upside-down Audi that ended the race last year, could not avoid Juncadella and together they blocked up the road pretty much completely. “I couldn’t see him [Juncadella] at first. Then I saw the car standing still,” Vanthoor told Motorsport. “I tried to brake but it was just understeering and I couldn’t do anything. There’s room for one car there and you’re blind.” Fourteen more cars would eventually crash into the corner c
Post a Comment
Read more

The First of its Kind: Integrated Engineering Releases Highly-Anticipated IE450T MK6 Golf R Turbo Kit

After two long years of development, the team at Integrated Engineering has finally announced the release of their IE450T kit for the MK6 Golf R. With their turbo kit bolted on right out of the box, the sport AWD hatch is transformed into a 450bhp monster, with hardly any noticeable increase in spool time. In fact, 435 ft-lbs of torque are achieved at all four wheels, at a mere 3300rpm! By now you are probably asking yourself how this is even possible on a 2.0L engine that made nearly half that power from the factory. By employing true twin-scroll technology into the cast turbo manifold and pairing it with a state-of-the-art BorgWarner EFR turbocharger, IE was able to keep spool time at a minimum and bring the fastest-spooling big turbo setup to the market. “We wanted to offer a kit that would dramatically increase the power output without making the car lose its amazing street-friendly drivability,” mentioned one of the IE engineers. We are told the IE450T leaves the car driving jus
Post a Comment
Read more