According to a Volkswagen spokesperson, the company’s passenger car brand is set to implement savings and cost-cutting measures at the amount of EUR 10 billion by 2026 in order to achieve a return on sales of 6.5%.
The person noted that it was not yet certain how the EUR 10 billion saved would be allocated.
According to a post by Volkswagen’s Chief Financial Officer Arno Antlitz, the auto maker aims to improve production efficiency across its passenger car brand as well as at CUPRA, SEAT and Skoda, and to streamline its product range.
The CFO’s post came after Volkswagen brand chief Thomas Schaefer said in an internal memo last month the company was planning an overhaul at its core brand.
Volkswagen’s Q1 2023 returns dropped to 3% from 3.6% in the same period a year earlier. Schaefer blamed weaker results on geopolitical conflicts, recession risk, unstable supply chains as well as rising prices of raw materials and energy.
The shares of Volkswagen AG (VOWG) were last edging down 0.26% (EUR 0.42) on Thursday to trade at EUR 160.28 on Xetra, as they snapped a ten-day streak of gains.
The auto maker’s total market cap now stands at EUR 76.164 billion.
The shares of Volkswagen AG went down 42.86% in 2022, compared with an 8.79% loss for the DAX Automobile (CXPAX) Index.
The company’s shares have risen 8.55% so far this year.