Scelte strategiche Gruppo VAG

[4200blu]

VW brand agrees $11 billion cost savings push with labor leaders

VW is cutting production shifts, reducing product development cycles and scrapping a planned new R&D site in Wolfsburg to boost profitability.

Volkswagen Group and its powerful labor leaders have agreed an initial pact for 10 billion euros ($11 billion) in cost savings to help boost low returns at the company's namesake brand.

VW Group has already implemented a hiring freeze, laid off temporary workers and cut production shifts at its German factories as CEO Oliver Blume aims to improve earnings at the long-struggling VW brand, a feat made harder by weaker-than-expected demand for EVs.

In a memo to staff earlier this month, VW said it planned to slash administrative staff costs at VW brand by a fifth, save a billion euros by 2028 through reducing product development cycles to three years from 50 months, cut production times and scrap a planned new 800-million-euro R&D site in its home city of Wolfsburg.

On Tuesday VW listed further cost-cutting measures including partial retirement for workers born in 1967, or 1968 for those with severe disabilities, to reduce costs particularly in the administrative personnel area.

The carmaker also plans to save 320 million euros a year through better purchasing performance in its procurement, generate over 250 million euros a year through optimizing its after-sales business, and save over 200 million euros a year by improving production times.

A further 400 million euros annually would be saved by reducing the number of test vehicles used in technical development by up to 50 percent, with more testing done via digital processes, it said.

The steps aim to make 10 billion euros in gains by 2026, helping to more than double returns at the VW brand to 6.5 percent by the same year.

The cost-cutting drive should yield a positive contribution of 4 billion euros ($4.4 billion) to its results in 2024, VW said.

The savings are the first in a series of programs across VW Group to improve productivity and stay competitive in the transition to electric vehicles.

The automaker is under pressure particularly in China, where it lost its market-leading position to EV maker BYD Co. after the company’s battery-powered models struggle to get traction.
 

(Bloomberg)

 

 

[machefredfa]

Articolo di AlVolante.it

 

https://www.alvolante.it/news/l-audi-rallenta-sull-elettrico-390877

 

L’Audi rallenta sull’elettrico

 

La casa di Ingolstadt ha deciso di rivedere la strategia sui modelli elettrici per evitare di appesantire fabbriche e concessionari.

 

 

RALLENTARE - Gernot Döllner, ceo dell’Audi, in un’intervista ha comunicato che la casa dei quattro anelli, nell’ambito di un contesto di frenata delle vendite di veicoli elettrici, ha deciso di rallentare la sua ambiziosa strategia destinata ai veicoli a corrente, che prevedeva il lancio di 10 nuovi modelli entro il 2026.

 

NON COSÌ IN FRETTA - Döllner nell’intervista rilasciata a Bloomberg afferma che il "rallentamento" delle EV è un bene per il marchio, in quanto può concentrarsi su ciò che oggi rappresenta il focus del suo portafoglio prodotti: i veicoli termici. Il dirigente non esclude i veicoli elettrici dalla strategia a lungo termine del marchio, tuttavia, conferma una “flessibilità” delle tempistiche.

 

AUMENTARE I MARGINI - L’Audi è un marchio strategico per il Gruppo Volkswagen per via dei lauti profitti che genera, e prevede di lanciare 20 modelli entro il 2026, metà dei quali completamente elettrici. In quest’ultimo settore il marchio risulta indietro rispetto a Mercedes e BMW, che si apprestano al lancio della loro nuova generazione di veicoli a corrente a partire dalla metà del decennio. Döllner, che ha lavorato con Blume in Porsche, ha il compito di aumentare i margini del marchio portandoli dal 9 al 13%. E deve farlo nell’ambito di un piano di riduzione dei costi, che porterà il Gruppo Volkswagen a risparmiare 10 miliardi entro il 2026.

 

IN ATTESA DELLA Q6 - L’Audi Q6 e-tron, che ha subito ritardati per i noti problemi al software darà il via all'offensiva di modelli, quando nel secondo trimestre del 2024 inizierà ad uscire dalle linee di produzione. Si tratta di un modello molto importante, poiché è il primo a essere ingegnerizzato sulla nuova piattaforma PPE, alla base dei veicoli del Gruppo Volkswagen, tra cui la Porsche Macan elettrica. Nel 2024 l’Audi ha in programma il lancio di un altro modello elettrico oltre a due vetture con motore a combustione, mentre un terzo modello con motore a combustione è previsto per il 2025.

La notizia che l'Audi ha deciso di rallentare la sua strategia sui modelli elettrici avrà ripercussioni significative anche sul marketing e la comunicazione del marchio.

Audi dovrà rivedere la sua strategia di comunicazione

In precedenza, Audi aveva puntato molto sulla mobilità elettrica per differenziarsi dai suoi concorrenti. La decisione di rallentare questa strategia potrebbe rendere necessario per Audi rivedere la sua strategia di comunicazione.

 

Modificato 20 Dicembre 2023 da machefredfa

[MotorPassion]

 

[4200blu]

VW cuts prices, revises trim levels on ID electric-car lineup

Lower-priced versions of the ID3, ID4, ID5 and ID7 are now available in France, Belgium, Italy, Norway and other European countries, as VW seeks to compete better with Tesla and other EV makers.

The Volkswagen brand has cut prices and revamped its trim offerings on its ID line of full-electric vehicles to boost sales in France, Belgium, Italy and several northern European countries.

VW's local subsidiaries and importers announced the changes at the end of December and this week.

VW said the revisions to its ID lineup "will enable us to achieve our ambitious business goals." "With our clear pricing strategy, we continue to focus primarily on the quality and attractiveness of our products," a VW spokesperson told Automotive News Europe on Friday.

Additional market-specific offers are geared to the country-specific requirements and needs of customers, VW said. ”Individual markets determine what pricing or promotions to offer, the spokesperson said.

The price cuts come despite VW Group CEO Oliver Blume saying last year that the automaker would not get into a price war in Europe with Tesla, the region's top-selling BEV brand, after Tesla cut prices sharply on the Model 3 and Model Y. "We have a clear pricing strategy and are focusing on reliability. We trust in the strength of our products and brands," Blume told Frankfurt Allgemeine Sonnetagszeitung in January 2023.

Many experts are forecasting that demand for EVs will slow, as consumers balk at high prices and a still-developing charging network, and automakers struggle to match the profitability of internal-combustion cars.

VW Group executives said in October that EV orders had slowed significantly in 2023, although the automaker said at the time that it would stick to its EV pricing despite cuts by rivals.

The ID4 is now priced at 43,990 euros in France in the new ID trim. It was launched in France at more than 51,000 euros. 

VW in November cut shifts at its huge EV factory in Zwickau, Germany, in the face of reduced demand for EVs. The factory, which has an annual capacity of 360,000 units, builds the ID3, ID4, ID5, Audi Q4-E-tron and Cupra Born EVs.

French EV incentives targeted

In France, the new prices and trim lines mean that nearly all versions of the ID3 compact hatchback and the ID4 and ID5 midsize SUVs will be eligible for a government EV bonus of 5,000 to 7,000 euros in 2024, VW said in a news release. The VW models will have two new trim lines, ID and Life Max.

The VW ID3 Pro with a 58 kilowatt-hour battery, for example, is available in ID trim level for 39,990 euros; with a 77 kWh battery, it is 44,310 euros. The previous lowest-price version was the Pro Performance, at 42,990 euros.

The ID4 in ID trim starts at 43,990 euros. When the ID4 was launched in France last year, it started at more than 51,000 euros, although VW offered a rebate to buyers last autumn that cut the price to about 44,000 euros. 

The lowest-price ID5 (ID trim) starts at 50,500, VW said, while the Life Max trim starts at 51,500, which VW says is 8,150 euros less than the roughly equivalent 2023 Pro Performance trim but with more options --- for a net benefit to buyers of 11,260 euros.

“The complete overhaul of the ID range demonstrates Volkswagen's ambition to offer very competitive models on the electric market in France,” Dorothee Bonassies, VW brand director in France, said in the release this week.

The ID3 compact hatchback will start as low as 358,000 Norwegian krona (31,700 euros), Norway's VW importer Moller said.

VW has trailed other automakers in EV sales in France, the second-largest electric vehicle market by volume in Europe. In 2023, VW sold 4,791 ID3s, making it the 84th most popular model overall and 13th-best-selling EV, according to figures from the PFA industry group. The ID4 ranked 98th overall and 16th among EVs, with 3,911 sales.

France’s best-selling EVs last year were the Tesla Model Y, with 37,124 sales; the Dacia Spring, with 29,761 sales; the Tesla Model 3, with 24,539 sales; the Fiat New 500, with 24,120 sales; the Peugeot e-208, with 22,700 sales; and the MG4, with 20,072 sales.

Seeking growth in Norway

In Norway, which has Europe’s highest EV penetration at 82 percent of new-car sales, VW needs to be more competitive, said Ulf Tore Hekneby, the CEO of importer Harald A. Moller. Volkswagen has fallen to third place in overall sales in Norway, he said, after years at the top. 

“We realize that although we have great and attractive models, we have not had equipment variants and prices that have been popular enough to climb all the way to the top, as we have succeeded in doing in the past,” Hekneby said in a news release. 

The ID3 will start as low as 358,000 Norwegian krona (31,700 euros) compared with more than 500,000 krona in the past, with the ID4 starting at 413,000 krona.

Italian buyers have also seen changes to the ID lineup, starting Jan. 3. The new Pro Edition Plus versions of ID.3, ID.4 and ID.5 are offered at 1,000 euros more than the Pro versions, but with 9,800 euros of added standard equipment, equivalent to an 8,800-euro advantage for customers, VW said.

On the new ID.7, the Pro Edition Plus becomes the entry version, costing 1,300 less than the Pro, but with 6,350 euros worth of additional standard equipment, translating 7,650 euros in customer benefit, the company said.

In Germany, VW's biggest European market, the automaker is funding EV subsidies after the government abruptly pulled its support for the incentives. The ID3 starts at 39,995 euros there, a lower price that was introduced early last year along with a face-lift for the model. According to reports, reductions total up to 7,735 euros on some ID models.

The ID7 midsize sedan is the newest member of VW's EV lineup.

New pricing in Belgium and Sweden

Other countries where VW recently announced a reworked EV lineup and lower prices include Belgium and Sweden.

The ID3 is now available for 39,990 euros and the ID4 for 39,649 euros in Belgium to take advantage of an EV bonus of 5,000 euros in the Flanders region, VW Belgium said, saying that prices had been “seriously revised downward” to reach the bonus threshold.

Gert van Leeuw, director of VW Belgium, said that there would be an additional discount early this year on the ID3 to match the ones traditionally given at the Brussels auto show, so an ID3 will be available for 37,990 euros, or 32,990 euros with the Flemish EV bonus. 

In Sweden, VW has added two new trims to ID models, an “EU” base version and “Edition,” which adds features at a lower price to other trim levels. An ID3 Pro Performance Edition model, for example, is 460,000 krona (41,115 euros), compared with the Pro Performance model, which is 479,000 krona. An “EU” version of the ID3 has also joined the lineup, at 448,000 krona. Similar pricing applies to ID4, ID5 and ID7 models.
 

(ANE)

 

 

 

Auto Motor und Sport

 

 

 

[machefredfa]

Volkswagen potrebbe sostituire la ID.3 con la Golf elettrica (ID Golf?)

La Casa tedesca ritiene che non ci sia spazio per due modelli elettrici di segmento C nella sua gamma ⬇️⬇️

 

https://it.motor1.com/news/706588/volkswagen-golf-elettrica-anticipazioni/

[Auditore]

5 minuti fa, machefredfa scrive:

Volkswagen potrebbe sostituire la ID.3 con la Golf elettrica (ID Golf?)

La Casa tedesca ritiene che non ci sia spazio per due modelli elettrici di segmento C nella sua gamma ⬇️⬇️

 

https://it.motor1.com/news/706588/volkswagen-golf-elettrica-anticipazioni/

Solo in VW potevamo pensare di sostituire un mito come la Golf con un bacarozzo; il mercato gli ha fatto capire la scelta giusta...

[j]

AUDI

Massimo Frascella è il nuovo capo del Design

La matita arriva dalla Jaguar Land Rover per sostituire Marc Lichte: dopo tanti anni, la responsabilità dello Stile dei Quattro anelli torna in mani italiane

 

https://www.quattroruote.it/news/industria-finanza/2024/02/15/audi_frascella_design.html

[ILM4rcio]

On 30/1/2024 at 13:57, Auditore scrive:

Solo in VW potevamo pensare di sostituire un mito come la Golf con un bacarozzo; il mercato gli ha fatto capire la scelta giusta...

In teoria loro un bacarozzo che è anche un mito della motorizzazione ce l'avrebbero anche😁

[Auditore]

29 minuti fa, ILM4rcio scrive:

In teoria loro un bacarozzo che è anche un mito della motorizzazione ce l'avrebbero anche😁

Stai avedere che si riprende tutto quello che è stato suo...🤣

[superkappa125]

5 hours ago, j said:

AUDI

Massimo Frascella è il nuovo capo del Design

La matita arriva dalla Jaguar Land Rover per sostituire Marc Lichte: dopo tanti anni, la responsabilità dello Stile dei Quattro anelli torna in mani italiane

 

https://www.quattroruote.it/news/industria-finanza/2024/02/15/audi_frascella_design.html

 

Mi dispiace che abbia lasciato JLR, ma sono curiosissimo di vedere cosa saprà fare in Audi. C'è del potenziale per fare cose molto belle.