At today’s works meeting held at Volkswagen’s main plant in Wolfsburg, Dr. Herbert Diess, CEO of the Volkswagen brand, reported on the progress achieved in the year to date and also presented the outlook for the next few months. Diess: “The year is going quite well for Volkswagen – our strategy is taking effect. In the next stage, we will need to set our finances on a fundamentally sound foundation.” In line with his objectives, Volkswagen will be focusing on the implementation of the pact for the future, forging ahead with the mobility of the future and improving productivity at all the plants over the course of the year. “My objective is that we should do everything in our power to make Volkswagen top fit for the future,” said Diess.
With the Transform 2025+ strategy, Volkswagen has set out the milestones for the development of the company over the years to come. The largest product offensive in the history of the brand has been launched. This year alone, Volkswagen will be presenting more than 10 new models.
Over the next few months, Volkswagen will need to keep up the momentum and to position itself competitively with the pact for the future. A sound financial footing will be essential for this purpose. Diess: “We need good financial results. Only then will we be able to shape our future, to invest and to develop innovation pressure.” This will also include forging ahead consistently with the mobility of the future – and taking the lead in e-mobility, digitalization and autonomous driving. “We must become courageous, slim, fast and aggressive. We must be prepared to change fast – to develop new capabilities and to break away from old habits,” said Diess.
Achievement of the productivity targets set out in the pact for the future will be essential if Volkswagen is to be competitive. “The key to financial recovery is the productivity of our plants. Our target for 2017 is a productivity improvement of 7.5 percent. We have agreed on a total improvement of 25 percent by 2025,” Diess explained. Currently, measures for more efficient production are being identified at all the brand’s plants – and implemented step-by-step.
Another key element of the pact for the future is the fundamental personnel transformation that will lay the foundation for safeguarding the jobs of the permanent workforce at Volkswagen. A key tool will be partial early retirement. Human Resources Board Member Dr Karlheinz Blessing said: “There is considerable interest in our partial early retirement scheme for people born between 1955 and 1960. This offer also applies to management. We are rapidly approaching our target of 9,300 contracts signed. Employees who wish to take partial early retirement must make their decision by July 31. People who decide later will lose this opportunity. We cannot improve on these conditions and employees who would rather continue to work are saying that they will make an active contribution, will qualify for new tasks and will be prepared to transfer to another business area or location.”
