But what a recovery, there is no peace for the Volkswagen group. The microchip crisis risks hitting Europe’s leading carmaker harder than expected amid costly electrification programs for products and factories. The Wolfsburg plant, as emerged during the public debate in the factory which had seen the opposing theses of the group’s CEO, Herbert Diess, and the chairman of the works council (the internal union) Daniela Cavallo, will not build 400,000 cars in the 2021. The group’s total should not go beyond 9 million. Against almost 11 million in 2019 (9.3 million in the pandemic 2020, equal to -15% on the previous year). Cavallo had accused the management of not having been able to manage the crisis on a par with its competitors. In fact, BMW and Toyota, but also Daimler, did better, reacting promptly and working closely with suppliers.
In the plan launched by the supervisory board a week ago, with investments of 89 billion for electrification and digitalization, in addition to the confirmation of the CEO, albeit lightened by some delegations (the most important of all that inherent in the responsibility of the Chinese market) it was said that the targets for 2022 were 10 million cars sold, with the return to 11 million in 2023. However, rumors leaked in the German press that one of the main suppliers of the VW group, namely the German giant Bosch, would not be able to meet demand and this could seriously damage Volkswagen.
They didn’t take it very well in Wolfsburg. One of the participants in the meeting between the leaders of the two automotive giants, which took place on December 10, would have revealed to Manager Magazine that at best the reality will be very different in 2022, or 9 million cars sold. But if the chip crisis were to rage (and the conditions are there, given that Boston Consulting Group has estimated that the delta between supply and demand may even increase over the months, up to 20% in the fall) the millions would become 8.
On the financial side, the accounts should still be bailed out by premium brands, especially Porsche and even Audi, as they are sold with high prices and high margins. After a good first half, the expected operating margin in 2021 is 7-7.5%. The VW brand, after a negative result in the third quarter, will probably raise its head in the fourth. The main brand and Skoda are the ones that have been most affected by the negative evolution of the crisis.