Overview

• VW’s group profit plunged 30% while Porsche’s profit fell 91% in the latest reporting period, raising alarm over the adequacy of current cost cuts.
• Blume and his team have been working in secret on a radical restructure that would spin out the VW core brand as an equal peer to Audi, Porsche and Traton under a streamlined holding company.
• The overhaul aims to simplify decades-old, opaque governance and speed decision making by consolidating technology, finances and model planning under a lean board.
• Fights over job guarantees until 2030, potential plant shutdowns in Emden or Zwickau and the Porsche/Piëch family’s dividend demands threaten to stall the proposal.
• Executives warn that annual capacity of 14 million vehicles far exceeds output of around 9 million, heightening calls for further plant cuts beyond the 35,000 headcount reduction target.