Chief financial officer and chief operating officer of the Volkswagen Group, Arno Antlitz, tells Reuters that the car group has one – perhaps two – years to reverse the trend.
Volkswagen owes the equivalent of DKK 3,200 billion. But according to Arno Antlitz, Chief Financial Officer and Head of Operations at the Volkswagen Group, it is possible to reverse the trend.
However, it must go quickly. Arno Antlitz believes that he and the rest of the management have one or two years to get the debt under control.
Reuters writes that.
Volkswagen even has to pay interest on the DKK 1,900 billion alone. So something must happen now, if the German group is not to succumb.
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But falling sales and huge investments hurt Wolfsburg. And the debt will only become an ever greater problem. It was in a speech to the employees at the headquarters in Wolfsburg that Antlitz made the prediction that Volkswagen is running out of time.
– We have spent more money on the brand than we have earned for some time now. It doesn't go well in the long run. If we continue like this, we will not succeed in the transformation, said Arno Antlitz, according to Reuters.
However, the finance director also tried to lay off some of the responsibility. Instead, he shot that, among other things. on the corona pandemic and the consequences it had for the industry.
– Because of covid, around 16 million cars were bought in Europe. During and after covid this number dropped to around 12 million cars as the entire industry did not have enough microchips.
– The market in Europe has recovered since then but cannot and will not return to the previous level.
– We expect that around 14 million cars will be sold per year in the future – and that is a high goal. So two million cars are missing, Antlitz said.
