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This week the time had come: Volkswagen came around the corner with the Transform 2025+ and wants to show how things should continue with the faltering group in the next few decades. Volkswagen Brand Board Member Dr. Herbert Diess even brings out very large guns and wants to "create a new Volkswagen". What this restructuring and repositioning looks like in detail, however, is not clear. VW envisions its future as sustainable and endowed with profitable growth. The ambitions go even further: The Wolfsburg-based company wants to become the market leader in e-mobility - by 2025. In addition, they want to build the strongest digital ecosystem in the industry. We read between the lines once and saw where the money for walking the tightrope was supposed to come from.
Transform 2025+: That sounds like Hollywood
Transform 2025+: It somehow sounds like science fiction, cars that turn into robots and a society that can't cope with them. Well, this picture is not entirely wrong, is it? Ultimately, cars are becoming more and more independent machines that park themselves or keep on track. And it is no secret that many of our older people - hello demographic change - are not coping well with it. The only difference between sci-fi strips and reality: The robots do not come from another planet - at least you should assume.
Nevertheless, both the Hollywood film and Volkswagen's Transform 2025+ deal with the change in automobiles. The Wolfsburg consider a period that seems very short. After all, they want to at least partially implement the course within the next few years and sharpen the brand positioning considerably. Core topics: An increase in efficiency and productivity as well as the expansion of electromobility and connectivity.
All kinds of good things come in threes
Even brand board member Diess knows that these are ambitious plans. But the group should return to the top of the automotive industry and that is why only the most important things could stay as they are. He will probably speak of the premium segment, which the Wolfsburg-based company has not wanted to work on since yesterday. But one after anonther.
The transformation 2025+ is to be implemented in three phases. in the first step, which focuses on the period up to 2020, is about restructuring the core business and restructuring the value chain. Here you want to develop new skills. Yes, that is somewhat catchy and vague. Phase two, which builds on the success of the first phase, will last until 2025. On the basis of the regained strength, Volkswagen should become the leading volume manufacturer that generates good profits. They also want to be at the forefront of electromobility. In addition, there should be a profitable increase through new mobility services. In Phase three - and we are talking about the period until 2030 - the Lower Saxony finally want to have taken the lead in the automotive world.
Who should judge? The SUV!
In order to shed some light on the darkness of these less meaningful visions, the people of Wolfsburg still have a few details ready. The core element of the strategy is the positioning in the upper area of the volume segment - i.e. the premium area. To do this, they want to ignite an SUV offensive in the first phase, which will be supplemented by an electrification wave in the second phase. For this, niche products such as the Volkswagen CC or the Jetta should fly out of the program because they simply do not generate enough income. In this way, Volkswagen wants to sell one million electric cars a year by 2025 - ambitious! The goal is clear: in this field, global market leadership is sought. Where does the money come from? The discontinued models are to finance the new path: around 2,5 billion euros are to be freed up in this way.
The Wolfsburg-based company sees digital networking as particularly important in the future and wants to develop its own digital platform here and thus be closer to the customer. That means a more extensive network of services. A special plus point for the global corporation that has slipped into the supposed crisis: Additional income via this network. VW speaks of around 80 million users worldwide by 2025, which could result in sales of around 500 million euros.
A global fresh start
Of course, all of this does not only apply to Europe. North America in particular is coming into focus, after all there is enough lost ground to make up for it. So you want to turn from a niche to a volume manufacturer with profit. For this purpose, the focus is also on SUVs, which - as is typical for the US market - are supplemented by limousines.
This SUV offensive is also to be ignited in China and the premium area is to be expanded further. After all, we are talking about a fast growing market with an ever increasing number of buyers. This is also developing vigorously in South America and Russia, which is why these markets should also be expanded.
All well and good! But how?
More SUVs, more electric cars, a new wave of networking - all well and good, but that costs money. Lot of money! It seems naive that the financing should only come from niche models that are being discontinued. Volkswagen naturally also wants to reduce costs and increase profitability as part of Transform 2025+. This is nothing new so far.
However, in the last few days, it was clear from the news that CEO Müller believed the company was too "fat" and jobs had to be cut. At times there was talk of 30.000 jobs - a catastrophe for employees and the German economy. Even if the dismantling should be designed as “socially” as possible. Clearly, job cuts would lead to lower costs and more flexibility in the long term, but the last word will probably not yet be spoken here.