Can Volkswagen survive? | DW Business

Volkswagen faces mounting pressure as it battles declining sales and profitability in China’s fiercely competitive electric vehicle (EV) market. As the European market also faces challenges with incoming tariffs, Volkswagen’s long-term strategy will be crucial to its survival. DW Business speaks with Beatrix Keim of the Center Automotive Research to find out more.

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[lordlee]

German cars aren’t of good value any more. They are not luxurious or of high quality, they are just expensive to own.

[martingarrix]

If you make some mistakes, just blame China.

[Remcore]

Years of a lack of real competition and sheer arrogance of superiority have lead to the downfall of many car manufacturers, especially the EU and US household names.

[francismusgrave]

Isn't the elephant in the room the fact that VW and German cars in general tend to be very expensive to buy and to run if you include things like genuine spare parts?

[ciroalberto]

Volkswagen be like: its China's fault that no one wants our expensive bad cars.

[SugarDad]

Price war? lol
Just cause european companies decide to increase all their prices doesn't mean other countries have to follow

[NajCharfeddine]

German cars: when you have to program a spare part to work on your car

[antfinox]

VW was counting on profits from sales in China to carry the cost of making cars in the west. The sales in China have dropped 50% and will not return as VW does not make compelling BEV.

[blackbhoza]

A car should never cost as much as a house.

[elchuchulo]

Tesla is the best selling EV in the EU. But let's blame China...

[hyrenaj]

China increasingly sounding like Japan in the 70s and 80s and Korea in the 80s and 90s. Unfortunately the West wasn't able to subjugate China like they did with Korea and Japan.

[baivulcho]

The truth is that the European consumer is at a breaking point in the face of all these companies gouging prices in the aim of record high profits. For the past 5 years, the prices all over the spectrum have risen by tens of percents, doubled in many cases, while wages have barely budged if at all. In this situation, the consumer has no other option than to look for cheaper alternatives.
Of course, tariff war is not the solution to this. Increasing the prices of chinese cars will only push the consumer towards the used car market and will not do anything for the amount of new VW vehicles sold.
Instead of looking at the billions of € that these companies' executives are pocketing each year, they will try and pay the bill from the consumer's pocket, which is already empty.

[breaddayzzz]

Carzy that Brussels and Europe decide to tax these affordable EV's while at the same time, in Belgium for example there are so many subsidies for EV too. They want, by as early as 2030 to be able to sell no new cars that aren't Electric. It just doesn't make any sense, they tell all of us to buy EV's but then prohibit us from buying the only affordable ones that come on the market. The price of the lowest trim "affordable" EV in Belgium is a joke compared to those from China, even more when you see what you get from EU brands and what they offer in China in comparison.

[mattirae]

Will VW become the Kodak of automotive industry?

[bentoslf]

The tariffs protect the companies, not the consumer. In a hyperinflation age with a real push towards EV’s and high taxes on ICE cars, a cheap Chinese EV car that complies with EU safety regulations is a great deal.

[matrixberzins]

I am 40+ years old and I have a driver's license from the age of 18 - I live in one of the Baltic countries. All my life I have lived with the belief that only cars made in Germany are the best in the world and I never looked at others - my first car was already at the age of 18 - a Volkswagen Jetta (no extras, but the car was cheap to maintain and simple - as a young person, I couldn't ask for anything more). Then, after a few years, I allowed myself something more exclusive - Audi (B4) - then it seemed that I had moved to a completely different level of car and I was very satisfied with the comfort and of course I considered Audi to be a nicer car than Volkswagen. Later in life, I bought an Audi A3. In the meantime, I got married and we had a growing family - the Audi A3 became too small for us - I started looking for a new car in 2023 - of course I started going to Volkswagen and Audi car dealerships (my wife's question is why do I only look at cars made in Germany? I I didn't even engage in long discussions at all and simply said that they are the best in the world and that's all). But when I went to the showroom and sat in some Volkswagen cars T-Cross, T-Roc, and especially, which I liked visually, the Taigo, I was shocked that the car has such a small capacity that I immediately had to delete them from my list of desired cars. When I looked at the models of the Audi brand, I realized that it is better for me to buy a small apartment than to throw money away for an Audi just because it is an Audi, or for a Volkswagen Tiguan, the starting price of which in the dealer center without extras was around 42, 000 euros. For several months I was thinking about what would be better to buy from German products - until finally my wife persuaded me to try to sit in a car made by another country - the first to fall was the KIA Sportage - amazing, but I liked the car. But then I tried the Nissan Quashqai - the car is not big, but not too small either. Comfortable, visually attractive and most importantly not expensive + operating costs are also relatively low. And what happened? In 2024, after 22 years of loyalty to German-made cars, I switched to Japanese-made Nissan, which I didn't even look at a while ago - and what will I do in 5-7 years? I will probably buy a new car, but the first thing I will look at will be Nissan again. Admittedly, the wife has a BMW X6, but we are starting to think about selling it, because it is a very expensive pleasure.

[GerthebearBrady.]

Herbert Diess tried to prepare VW for this. He knew what was coming and tried to get VW ahead of the issue and the VW unions got him fired for it.

[wenerjy]

I saw in a CNBC video that China has 130 EV manufacturers competing against each other. That’s why the prices are so low and the rate of innovation is so high. The oligopolies in the West have been completely caught flat flooted.

[klackon]

German car companies have been selling cars, which never make the top 5 in JD Power reliability surveys, at extortionate prices for years. Many of the BEV cars they make have poor range, yet cost far more than than the average buyer can afford. Welcome to the real world.

[carlosmontclair]

If VW had every car hit 600.000 km for a fair price this wouldn’t be an issue.
Paying for quality is fair, paying for something that needs major repairs due to standard wear and tear is unacceptable.