Volkswagen to cut 30,000 jobs to save $3.9 bn

Volkswagen AG today announced that it will cut around 30,000 jobs globally in order to save €3.7 billion ($3.9 billion) in expenses, as the German carmaker seeks to recover from the emissions scandal, which has so far cost it $20 billion.

The car giant, which employs 624,000 people in 34 countries, said that the 30,000 job cuts include 23,000 in Germany, but will create 9,000 new jobs as it shifts to electric and self-drive technology.

This exercise should bring in annual savings of $3.9 billion (€3.7 billion) by 2020.

The company said that the plan is the most radical in its history. Volkswagen executive in charge of VW brand cars, Herbert Diess, said that the company needed to brace itself for drastic changes as the automobile industry shifted to electric vehicles.

Volkswagen CEO, Matthias Mueller, said it was ''the biggest modernisation programme in the history of the group's core brand.''

''The VW brand needs a real shake-up and that is exactly what the future pact has turned out to be,'' he added.

Volkswagen, Europe's largest automaker, has been grappling with the emission cheating scandal that has hit sales and so far cost the company around $20 billion.

The company fitted its cars with so-called default devices software that changed engine performance during emissions testing.

In June, the Wolfsburg-based company agreed to pay up to $14.7 billion to settle claims, in what would be one of the largest consumer class-action settlements ever in the United States. (See: Emissions scam: VW to pay up to $14.7 m to settle claims)

Volkswagen may yet face further fines as customers in other countries demand compensation.

The VW group has 12 brands from seven European countries: Volkswagen passenger cars, Audi, Seat, Skoda, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Porsche, Ducati, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, Scania and MAN.

Apart from the emission scandal, the company has struggled with profit margins well below those of its rivals, weighed down by onerous labour contracts and a complex corporate structure. Source: domain-b.com

Read More........ → November 21, 2016

Merkel named Time’s Person of the Year

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Time magazine today named German Chancellor Angela Merkel its "Person of the Year 2015", saying her deft leadership has helped preserve and promote an open, borderless Europe in the face of economic turmoil, ongoing refugee and the Ukraine crises. She beat some of the world's best-known politicians and leaders including Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Russian President Vladimir Putin, ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi and Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump for the annual honour. "At a moment when much of the world is once more engaged in a furious debate about the balance between safety and freedom, the Chancellor is asking a great deal of the German people, and by their example, the rest of us as well. To be welcoming. To be unafraid. To believe that great civilizations build bridges, not walls, and that wars are won both on and off the battlefield," Time said. Time said Merkel was chosen as the person of the year because she is the "de facto leader" of a continent. — PTI. Source: Article

Read More........ → December 10, 2015

German apple queens visit Chancellery

The German Chancellery, normally only a place where top politicians convene, was host to seven apple queens from various German cultivation areas on October 8, German website Fruchthandel.de reports.In front of the Chancellery's cabinet room, they presented richly filled fruit baskets with various German apple varieties to Chancellor Angela Merkel, the Federal Ministers and State Secretaries. Angela Merkel was pleased with a very extraordinary basket: hers was completely filled with Boskoop apples, the Chancellor's favourite apple. The other cabinet members were also presented with freshly harvested apples by the ambassadors. Apart from the red Boskoop, the fruit baskets contained the Elstar, Jonagold, Holsteiner Cox and Jonagored varieties. The apple queens' visit to the Chancellery is a tradition in Germany. At the start of the season, the apple queens celebrate the apple harvest in Germany by presenting the fruit baskets. Source: Article

Read More........ → October 19, 2014