VW shuttering vehicle production in Europe
Despite emissions-gate costs north of 1 billion euros in 2019, the last financial year was good for VW. 2020, however, is set to be “a very difficult year”, with the company preparing to shutter European production. (Photo: VW Group)
With 2019 annual sales of 88.4 billion euros, the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand’s figures were 4.5 per cent higher than the previous year. As a result, Dr. Herbert Diess, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG described 2019 as “a very successful year for the Volkswagen Group”. However, he went on to describe 2020 as “a very difficult year”:
“The corona pandemic presents us with unknown operational and financial challenges. At the same time, there are concerns about sustained economic impacts. We will succeed in overcoming the corona crisis by pooling our strengths and with close cooperation and high morale in our Group.”
However, this also means shuttering vehicle production at the VW Group’s plants in Spain, Portugal, Slovakia and Italy “before the end of this week”. Most other European plants will pause manufacturing “in the coming weeks”. The Group said “significant deterioration in sales” and component supply were the reasons for halting manufacturing.
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