Volkswagen To Close German Factories For First Time Ever

[@Shambles7698]

Volkswagen is not about "people car" anymore because of Overpriced with cheap plastic and low reliability

[@sciencoking]

High cost, low quality. Wonder where the difference is going?

[@floxy20]

Don't forget the fibbing about performance.

[@itzJKB]

@@floxy20 everyone did that

[@waichungsham1578]

They had it good when they were getting cheap energy from Russia now that's gone because they followed America to sanction Russia they lost the ability to get cheap energy which now makes manufacturing anything more expensive and even less competitive

[@Pierluigi_Di_Lorenzo]

@@waichungsham1578 Volkwagen AG made €22.6 billion in operating profit last year, despite higher energy costs.

[@Ganjaseed]

As a German I will never buy another VW owned car again. They purposefully build in cheap plastic parts wich are still very expensive to repair. In some cases failure of said plastic parts will damage the whole engine after just barely reaching 100000km. They once knew how to build reliability but changed direction to make more profits.

[@lvhdmya4807]

I read somewhere that these plastics were mandated by the EU to be recycled plastic hence the unreliability.

[@marcvb3364]

Not to mention they betrayed us all with the diesel gate. They can go bankrupt for all I care, all they care about is profits anyway.

[@Maxშემიწყალე]

Right, now let's see Paul Allen's VW.

[@PTV5]

@@lvhdmya4807 My friend from bmw said they're really good at material engineering and plan the plastic to last literally until the warranty period.

[@ingo_8628]

@@lvhdmya4807 Clearly not

[@Vinlyguyx420x]

Ironic that they can figure out a software hack for emissions on the dynamo but can’t figure out how to build a real product

[@agnesg]

Like the kid in school who spends more time trying to cheat than study legitimately. 😂

[@ladislavzima8382]

They failed in the software in newer cars, too. For many buyers the weakest part.

[@jonathanwieringa8808]

They never did software, bosch made that cheat software for VW...

[@mrg-ghx8052]

​@@jonathanwieringa8808Bosh made the host Hardware, it was VWs software

[@vibue2415]

tbf depending on the subject, this can be wax more interessting

[@chrissmith2114]

VW-Audi made same mistake as Boeing - thinking they could replace engineers with accountants

[@blackrifle6736]

*This comment wins the thread!*

[@k.kaiser3997]

not really - the entire board are left wing and green party delegates, since its mostly state owned. one of the greenparty board member are against cars - what an irony.

[@neuro.weaver]

And qualifications with diversity.

[@k.kaiser3997]

@@neuro.weaver - Very true. not the best of somthing, but the one most diverse - like k. harris.

[@PBandJJJJJ]

Come on, VW cars are not falling apart and their workers are very skilled. Boeing is a little more extreme.

[@quippy8402]

Another example showing how useful most well-paid executives are in any challenging enough environment.

[@robertburton432]

Money that would be more useful in the engineering department

[@truth6242]

If they do not pay those execs can start other businesses or move to a competitor.

[@nikmullin7798]

​@@truth6242and?

[@kiwidiesel]

Better than causing the company to close.

[@3dTank]

@@truth6242 That would be good for them, since they'd be siphoning off money from the competitors instead lmao

[@jermunitz3020]

Fuck touchscreens give me back my knobs!

[@neuvocastezero1838]

All the tech the manufacturers are piling on is just asking for failures and hack vulnerabilities.

[@CZAR-OF-SARCAZM]

I LIKE KNOBS. 😊

[@charlech]

There are aftermarket knobs you can add to Tesla

[@the_expidition427]

Men like knobs!

[@hanotme.1085]

@@CZAR-OF-SARCAZM HEY

[@balkanleopard9728]

There is nothing special about VW vehicles. They are built by accountants and it shows. The reliability of modern VW's is laughable - my local service manager did just that - laughed. Anyone familiar with German systems and software know just how cumbersome and difficult it can be, SAP is a prime example of the most unweildy software in the world. The problem for VW is its highly paid moribund management. Without a total change in their privileged European attitude VW is going under.

[@andrewdubose9968]

The closest thing to a car built by accountants is Toyota. In their own words: _Toyota Motor Corporation's Toyota Production System (TPS) is a way of making things that have become known and studied worldwide. It is based on the premise of making work easier for workers. The objective is to thoroughly eliminate waste and shorten lead times to deliver vehicles to customers quickly, at a low cost, and with high quality_

[@TestTest12332]

And yet, VW effectively giving up on in-house software development and outsourcing that to Xpeng and Rivian will end up dooming the company. Today cars are probably 80% software and 20% hardware. Without growing good in-house software engineering capabilities, VW are betting their fate company on 3rd parties. Which very rarely works right.

[@Cooe.]

​@@TestTest12332Germany simply doesn't have good software engineers on a mass scale. 🤷 All the best software engineers are in America and East Asia. VW was completely right in going to where the talent is.

[@Vladimir123_]

Didnt Sap is one the most use software in manifacturing?

[@PBandJJJJJ]

@@TestTest12332 Cooperation has always been VW’s biggest strength, that’s why they believe it will work. We will see.

[@filippxx]

Worked for a company who did part of the software in VAG cars, because up until Diess their software development was outsourced to lowest bidder. Software development for them is report status, project plan, reprioritize, rinse and repeat.... and only later worry about building something functional. Is more important to have something to blame for being late than actually doing the work.

[@MehdiS-music]

Ad to it their cheap and nasty mechanical components and cheap engineering... Its a disaster of a company relying on their past image to sell low quality cars.

[@harmhoeks5996]

Interesting. I thought it was weird though as some German are the best software engineers in the world. They just split their time between high pay banking/government IT and indie gamedev.

[@hollowgonzalo4329]

@filippxx Yup i knew it was the fuckin jeets. I'd bet a thousand dollars it's the sane with everything GM.

[@a.y5742]

​@@harmhoeks5996 theyre often too pedantic and whatever the opposite of pragmatic is to achieve meaningful results within timeframe

[@simonkay6533]

Yes and my all time favourite, using Cobol databases for company software in 2021.

[@sunshine7453]

55 years ago the Bugs were the most people cars in the US and I owned one and loved it. It is famoust to be unsafe and uncomfortable for many years. Volkswagen chose to do nothing. It open up opportunities to Japanese car makers. After I got out of college I bought a Japanese car and was stunned how advanced they were. I owned many Toyotas till today. They are super reliable and their services are first class.

[@ronaldaddison2146]

I exclusively drove Ford cars/vans for 20 years until the clutch went on my last one at 40K miles and I got sick of the repair costs. I bought a 6-year old used Honda with 50K miles on it with no history of any repairs or failures. I've been driving it now for 4 years and have doubled the mileage and the only repair it needed in that time was a puncture repair. It feels like it'll run forever.

[@BlackPill-pu4vi]

When VW Beetles were a dime a dozen and the novelty had long worn off, it was easy to look for something better. Now that good unmodified Beetles are becoming scarce, a new audience can appreciate them as a pastime and enjoy it differently. I once owned a '76 standard Beetle in that context and loved it. Nice driver. Kept it stock and never cared if it was allegedly unsafe or not.

But the US also introduced crazy import taxes on German cars in order to "support" their own car manufacturers. Check how they made this insane law for these pickup-type cars some years ago... Now modern monster-sized cars are taxed less than a small, environmentally friendly European car... The weird fruits of government interventionism........

[@TalkingPoint773]

Every corporation now is about the "shareholders" not the customers. This is the problem, they focus on maximising profit over being socially responsible and doing what is right for the customers.

[@Marwell0709]

Finally a fellow mind who understands!

[@amorosogombe9650]

'SEAT' is pronounced 'Say at'. Top notch content as always. Whenever MBA's replace engineers, in engineering companies, things go south. Just an observation.

[@mostbeautifulroads9789]

And Xpeng is pronounced "Schiaopeng" as far as I'm aware.

[@jukeseyable]

just ask Boeing

[@itemushmush]

im pretty sure they're using an AI trained on WSMs voice to narrate, so "SEAT" is pronounced as "S E A T". Can also hear the AI with signatures like the classic "delve". I dont mind, it saves time for uploading

[@likesonggame]

So true. What baffles me is if their degree is really that good then why not start their own business. They could make their own billion dollar company but no. They went and be a ceo in a well established company because their degree said they know better. 😂

[@mostbeautifulroads9789]

@@itemushmush Holy moly what. This is the first time I didnt realize I was consuming AI generated content. I don't really know why but I have to say it DOES bother me ...

[@dementsprechend1542]

Not to forget, the cheap fuel sourced from Russia kept the production and other costs quite low for the whole German industry.

[@spambot_gpt7]

Correction: Germany is not a rich country with high wages. Germany is a rich government with high taxes. That's why things are expensive. People are not rich. Also, every generation of VW cars has progressively more annoying onboard computers and "assistant" systems that try to bother and/or murder the user. This is partly due to terrible EU regulations, but they didn't even try to consider the interests of their customers.

[@BjorckBengt]

Boomer?

[@spambot_gpt7]

@@BjorckBengt Context?

[@riceast9054]

Chinese cars are only cheap because the government gives such massive subsidies.

[@robsollart2580]

Boomer here: All newer cars in the world have these "progressively more annoying computers and assistant systems", not just VW. It's not possible anymore to just buy a car, only computer on wheels that look like a car, the driver has no say over the computer, exept for where to drive it. Even more so with electric cars, why can't we buy one with just electric motor with motor controller, and a big battery with a battery management system? And all the other Bullshi t optional for who actually want that? I think there would be a market for such cars, but what do younger people think?

[@spambot_gpt7]

@@robsollart2580 As a non-boomer I am appalled by the disrespect towards the drivers that is embodied in the newer cars. The assistant systems are seriously dangerous and yet intentionally designed, so they cannot be turned off properly. I feel safer in old cars. Add to that: Touchscreens are a terrible idea when you want to use the controls without looking. (I.e. in a car.) This is not about boomers, it's about user friendly design versus cost saving & pseudototalitarian government regulations.

[@davidc1878]

I find it odd that people assume that filling an automobile with sensors, computers, video cameras, etc. and then tying it all to remotely controlled software is in any way sustainable. These modern cars are resource-intensive, prone to problems and glitches, too expensive, and are just a road to increased obsolescence.

[@TrustMeIKnowEverything]

Idiotic comment

[@789know]

Worse most of these automakers aren't really good at developing usable software

[@yulusleonard985]

Government demand.

[@gikigill788]

​@@yulusleonard985What Govt forced them to put in touchscreens?

[@yulusleonard985]

@@gikigill788 There's something called NCAP and you cant sell your car below certain ratting. To reach 3 to 5 stars you need all those electric.

[@markusgarcia4136]

They had a previous CEO that wanted to do this years ago.... and they sacked him! Now they have it comming their way....

[@StudioVehga]

Exactly why they need to close and make way for progressive companies

[@cloudsdrinkwater]

VW's vision... 🤩 1. Go woke with electric vision and branding ✅ 2. Employ pointless middle managers and pay them exorbitant salaries ✅ 3. Employ / Award deals to "designers" who produce vehicle designs that no longer capture the essence of VW ✅ 4. Reduce quality with inferior plastic components ✅ 5. Get rid of factory workers who had German engineering / strength in their heart ✅ 6. (Not unique to VW) Turn your vehicles into laptops on wheels - stick a big screen on the dash and remove buttons ✅ 7. Price your peoples car outside of the reach of "the people" ✅ Reality.... 💀

[@Cooe.]

Embracing EV's is only "going woke" if you're an anti-technology Luddite ignoramus. 🤷

[@vegefranz]

so true

[@GTFour]

Yeah Tesla has done so badly 🤦‍♂️🤣

[@k.kaiser3997]

and have left wing politicians on board, since mainly state owned in a left wing run area of Wolfsburg.

[@jordanvictoria5]

You sound like old people when the car first came out!😂 Why are these young in’s driving these horseless carriages? All you need is a horse. I tell you, you will never find me in one of those death traps. 😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@budoknano4947]

Time is tough now for consumers, we only need normal, cheap and reliable cars to go to work

[@stormytempest6521]

EXACTLY.

[@albinklein7680]

Just buy a 1993 E-Class.

[@agnesg]

I wish the auto makers would see this! We don't need more advanced tech or bigger trucks! Just safe, simple, reliable transportation.

[@albinklein7680]

@@agnesg just buy an used car. Plenty of them out there.

[@UndercoverScambaiter]

​@@agnesgwell that's not what Chinese consumers want. They want technology in their cars and that's what EVs provide especially those made in China.

[@thelegend-e7919]

Why does every car manufacturer think that because a vehicle is electric everything in it has to be controlled via software? Especially VW who according to this video struggled to have all their components interface with their infotainment software? Why not just have the aircon, heaters etc controlled by buttons and knobs as they already are? And leave the screens to focus on actual infotainment.

[@yungtoolshed251]

Let’s be honest with you, it isn’t EV’s killing the company. It’s the fact that Japanese and Korean car companies can get me a nicer car for cheaper than VW, Ford, GM, and Tesla. EV’s will be the future when it doesn’t cost consumers their kidneys to even buy a base model with a long range battery. Not to mention that outside of the main product mix of Tesla, most EV’s look stupid, underperform, and have overly expensive batteries that go up much sooner than traditional engines.

[@NormanStansfield1]

Korean car engines are junk. They cannot compete with the Japanese. KIA/Hyundai 4 cylinders are garbage. I would take a Ford over anything Korean. Japanese stuff is good but is not cheap. BMW makes the Toyo Supra. VW/Audi is the worst German brands for reliability in USA surveys. Mercedes is in the middle and BMW and Porsche are the most reliable. BMW is more reliable than Porsche. Germany's big problem is energy costs. Everything has to do with water and energy. They shut down their nuke powerplants and NATO blew up the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines that was owned by Germany and Russia. Open borders is the other problem. This and the energy issue have made more and more Europeans, including the UK, poor. Europe is becoming a poor continent. Europe's wealth over the past 30 years has been argely due to cheap and reliable energy from Russia. This is not Russia fanboyism it is economic reality.

[@lunam7249]

❤️👏👏

[@modfus]

No actually it isn't the Japanese and Koreans who are hitting VW the most. I suspect you are an American so you haven't been swamped by the tsunami of Chinese EVs yet.

[@rabbikd7673]

Chinese cars are the future

[@PhilfreezeCH]

I know a lot of people who have switched from VW to French cars, they seem to be doing a lot better than their German counterparts.

[@indahooddererste]

Paying out 4,5 billion euros on dividends. crying 5 months later u make 4,5 billion euros loss.

[@Pierluigi_Di_Lorenzo]

The Volkswagen AG made €23 billion in operating profit last year.

the more profit they make, the more people they fire. These big companies are run by lunatics. But also the German energy situation is making it impossible for German brands to be competitive, they can either reduce quality (and hope that nobody finds out... which works for a certain time and then, the company's reputation is ruined) or they can keep high quality products which will be so much overprized that nobody will buy them! Meanwhile EU-lunatics introduce C02 taxes, further killing our industry. So nobody should say there was nothing they COULD do - they could do a lot, but they don't WANT to do it. If you ask me, they just want to destroy Germany. I have no other explanation, looking at German politics over the last 10-15 years.

[@rajeshranjan5170]

in india, vw parts is 3x, 4x and sometimes 5x of the price of hyundai , suzuki, Nissan and others.

[@lld4ae]

Seat is actually spoken in one word like an American would speak “SAY-AT”

[@harmhoeks5996]

Herbert Diess pronunciation seems wrong. It shouldn't sound mexican, but german

[@intruder313]

Yeah it’s a word not an acronym

[@odetteuys1111]

"say-ut"

[@marcl.1346]

And Diess isn't "Dee-esse" but just 'Dees'

[@PaulGhiran]

Wsm often has issues with everything other than American names, it's truly pathetic. When talking about some Japanese name much like Toyota, he just randomly said the name ending in "a" as ending in "ay". Not only was it nothing like well known japanese brands (Toshiba, Toyota) no English accent would ever properly read it like that in English either, unless they read the country as AmericAY.

[@portiasnowdon9443]

Crazy to see this video, i was just in Wolfsburg last September and i went on a factory tour and it was mind boggling, so huge! I was there also when the retrofit was going on and was able to see the MASSIVE space they were clearing out for EV only, it seemed like they were going all in! That town is built around the factory, will be very difficult on the economy if it closes, a Detroit like situation😢

[@BMWfreak19]

Wolfsburgs factories are not up for debate. They are planning on closing some of their dozens and dozens of factories. As per usual on the internet, this channel has a tendency to over exaggerate for dramatic purpose

[@letsgoOs1002]

Did you skip over one of the worst scandals in modern history with diesel gate?

[@TrustMeIKnowEverything]

One of the worst 🤣🤣🤡🤡

[@samsonsoturian6013]

Worst? Fucker, all polution metrics are bull

[@feetfats1]

Small correction. The least worst scandal in history. The scandal was because they cheated the climate regulations which are a separate scam. So scamming a scam isn't really that bad is it?

[@odavis1364]

It wasn’t a big deal in europe

[@letsgoOs1002]

@@odavis1364 yeah it was. There is a reason why Germany pulled the excuitives back from American and refused to extradite them.

[@DMINATOR]

Nokia was once the biggest phone manufacturer in the world, undisputed giant. But then iPhone was announced.

[@DaRKHuNTeRMK]

Apple holds a tiny fraction of the market and even that is mostly in the higher economic zones, androids have flooded the market with cheap smartphones to the point where even if apple were to sell a brand new iphone for 200€, which will never happen, the tarifs and import taxes in most countries would still make it unaffordable for most people. But i get the point you are making, it would've been a better point if you used Blackberry instead of Nokia since they were directly ended by apple.

[@DaRKHuNTeRMK]

Apple holds a tiny fraction of the market and even that is mostly in the higher economic zones, androids have flooded the market with cheap smartphones to the point where even if apple were to sell a brand new iphone for 200€, which will never happen, the tarifs and import taxes in most countries would still make it unaffordable for most people. But i get the point you are making, it would've been a better point if you used Blackberry instead of Nokia since they were directly ended by apple.

[@tadroid3858]

It sounds like VW needs to start building cars that today's consumer wants and can afford. EV mandates are killing western auto manufacturers.

[@andrewdubose9968]

Then turn the pressure to your governments.

[@marcvb3364]

Most people I know want EVs, just not overpriced low quality EVs like the ones VW are offering.

[@tadroid3858]

@@marcvb3364 Everyone I know wants nothing to do with any plug-in unless it's a golf cart. Hybrids? Hell, yes, but no EVs.

[@موسى_7]

​@@tadroid3858 clearly, your neighbours aren't mindless middle class consumers of mainstream media, which are a large proportion of the white European population

[@marcvb3364]

@@tadroid3858 Hybrids are the worst of both worlds. Guess people's preferences vary from country to country then.

[@gencymeri8770]

No kidding. I bought a brand new VW passat a few years ago, I had nothing but problems since in the first month. But the dealer was worse, pretending like nothing wrong with it. Never another VW again. Just 5 years later bought Camry, not a single issue so far. What I noticed is that Toyota dealer is always full with people, and the VW dealer is just empty, real empty, all you see is depressing people workers looking for a loser to get in.

[@markwhite168]

Bought a new Tiguan a year ago. Not a single problem. Very nice car.

[@gencymeri8770]

Coincidentally I got a call from my daughter just 2 days ago. She is driving my VW for 3 months after I got the car serviced for its 90K service: 1- Horn no longer beeps, another car almost hit her when changing lanes while she was trying to beep the horn. 2 - Remote key no longer works, dealer changed the battery and still doesn't work. Dealer wants 500$ for another key!!! 3 - epc light comes and goes as it pleases. Never had a car where the horn broke.I bet If I go and get my Fiat 131 Mirafiori which I had in 1990, I'm sure its horn still works fine.

[@rubylaser8601]

Germany relied on Chinese market too much and too long.

[@lamchunting856]

and they also decided to bash China at the same time.

[@thanakonpraepanich4284]

Can you explain a bit more on how and when the gold mine of Chinese market has run dry for Volkswagen? I mean, China is the only thing that keep VW Group in black since the first Volkswagen Santana hit the Chinese showroom in 1979. What happened?

[@amandagrant4331]

US and EU were smug sominating the Chinese car market fro decades earning billions every year but when the reverse is trues these bullshitters are full of excuses.

[@Haya12234]

There are smaller hurdles in china to get an electricncar registered than a fuel car

[@alkostach]

Germany relied on Russian resources too much and too long.

[@stephengillman5087]

Europe is fast becoming uncompetitive in every fundamental measure, from education, unnecessary bureaucracy and cost of doing business .

[@kenneth9874]

Not to mention low worker productivity.

[@togethereasy]

You make very good videos, I've watched almost all the past 2 years.

[@tunintunin3417]

Quality went down, prices went up.

[@gerhardswanepoel3493]

Germany must be the country with the greatest difference between the competency of the general population and with the Germans working in management. It's like if you can do nothing with your hands or you can't reason like a logical person you automatically strive to become a leader.

[@fatrobin72]

my problem with Volkswagen (and most other modern car makers) is they no longer make a small cheap car, the cheapest new Volkswagen (the Polo) is £21k in the past they all had compact (city) cars in the £10-12k price range as they move to follow the trend of big "SUV" cars and other similar bulky but not much more spacious vehicles.

[@grahamjones5400]

The investors want share buybacks and executives want bonuses.

[@samsonsoturian6013]

Layoffs don't do that

[@feetfats1]

Nobody thinks of the poor executives and investors!

[@MrWaheedulHaque]

or just create beautiful cars again like the mk7 golf was and watch sales increase

[@slavric]

Last year when I was buying an EV I talked to my friend, who repairs automotive computers. He told me "Stay away from VW, buy Hyundai". I was interested in ID.3 or maybe ID.4 and was already aware of the problems. So I bought Hyundai and there was not a glitch in a year while my neighbour bought VW Tuareg and had many issues with it. As a former BMW fan I went away from German cars altogether as did my wife.

[@TechTusiast]

Crazy idea, how about designing a simple, reliable car that has a decent size 4 to 6 cylinder engine and offers value for money and not unreliable turds with components designed to fail and then be replaced with ridiculoussly overpriced parts like 7,000 euro headlights...

[@wedmunds]

But then they can't sell it for 50k

[@TechTusiast]

@@wedmunds I realize you were kidding, but actually they can. Just like German cars were before year 2000. You have good quality basic models at reasonable price, but they dont come with all the bells and whistless. People who are willing to pay "50K" get the same basic car, but with leather seats, more this, more that, more powerful engine and whatnot. Also, by selling reasonably priced cars, they could actually sell cars.... And since german brands have lost user trust completely, they have to lower prices anyway. When you make china quality, china pricing is all you can ask.

[@wedmunds]

@@TechTusiast but that's their business model. Sell fewer cars, at premium prices. They end up making more profit at the expense of the middle class not having cars.

[@TechTusiast]

@@wedmunds Not feasible. If they sell less units, unit cost increases and profit margin is reduced. Also there are so few well-off people that there simply are not enough people to sell cars to, unless you just make exotic specialty vehicles.

[@born1in1a1sauna]

@@TechTusiastNow when many people struggle financially the need for luxury and showing off has decreased. So it would be a good time for VW to perhaps relaunch or facelift som older simpler models ans sell them for cheap. The cheapest VW in my country is like 22k Euro (T-cross) when you walk into the dealership. And its way worse quality than a Polo from 2009 that you at that time could buy for 9000 Eur. Of course inflation hit companies hard, but a mega corpo like VW shoudl find effective ways and innovate to be able to produce cheaper and better.

[@macioluko9484]

Great video. Elon wasn’t kidding when he suggested in 2017 to put Volkswagen’s A team on EVs.

[@EnigmaCodeCrusher]

The huge price increases in Europe is one reason for lower sales. VW were considered affordable cars before the recent inflation jump.

[@JamesHorton-fo3yv]

If VW built cars more like Toyota instead of like Stellantis then VW wouldn't be closing plants .

[@JanKowalski-vj9py]

Toyota has only barely acceptable car lineage for Europe.

[@agnesg]

When i think of Volkswagen, i think of electrical problems. I know it was many years ago, but i had many friends who's taillights and interior lights stopped working and needed expensive repairs due to an rrror with the manufacturer.

[@geraldthomas9281]

My first car i had just over 50 years ago did 30 miles to the gallon. Everything on it i could fix. Secondhand 8 years old was £100. We have been taken for a ride in the last 10 years.

[@rrj6919]

If they can just hold on for five more years they'd be eating from the upcoming WW3 contract 😅

[@BabyDingo]

Back to their roots!

[@johanalejandrocazadordepin7225]

nah, since they abandoned they precious combustion motors due to woke culture an politics. They are going to get clapped by others. Thats what happens when you adope woke culture. Your economy is destroyed and your country invaded

[@lunam7249]

😳☠️"peoples-wagon" said that guy in 1932

[@kevinmoffatt]

All going nicely; according to plan.

[@ThriftyCHNR]

Could be a lot sooner than that

[@ForcefighterX2]

As a German software engineer and previous scientist working at a German university, I can give deep inside into the problems Volkswagen has w.r.t. software engineering: In short - it's a historische problem. The major bosses and employees from Volkswagen come from an era, where a car is nothing but a mechanical system, making use of many electrical and some embedded (software) systems. To this day software engineers and the field of software engineering in general is considered a "minor add on" to building a car. However, this is a dated naive view at best. Modern cars are extremely complex (software) embedded systems, where the complexity of the software has outpaced the complexity of of the mechanical system by far. Other vehicle manufactures - especially American and Japanese ones - know this. Especially Tesla is know for their great software capabilities within their cars. But the Volkswagen corporation still treats software like the add on your t no longer is.

[@JanKowalski-vj9py]

There's nothing bad a car can drive properly due to its mechanical proprieties. Most problem arise when it's electronics that need to cover the deficits and failures of hardware. Not to say that any add-on electronics should work properly which is not allways the case.

[@Cooe.]

Germany (and Europe in general) is also just seriously crap at software engineering in general. 🤷 There's a reason 90% of the world's software development happens in America & East Asia. That's where the talent is.

[@BarMagnet]

Software cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

[@MegaSupernowa]

Very much this, I work as consultant on software development and German companies are hopeless, If I hear one more time that there is no documentation because Hans who is 64 years old knows it all I will lose it. Germans can't develop software, at this point in my career I am certain of it, and the moment cars started to become half software half engineering is the moment German cars fell off sharply.

[@rock3tcatU233]

People's car where the average price of a model is around 50K euros. lmao

[@supermash1]

The Canadian and Ontario governments are subsidizing a volkswagen factory in Ontario. For that reason I will never even consider buying one of their vehicles. I resent my taxes going to prop up any corporation, let alone one of the largest manufacturers in the world. Let them pay for their own factories and if they can't do that then they shouldn't be building factories. People have to realize that "creative destruction" is a key feature of capitalism that allows things to constantly improve, and when you start to subsidize uncompetitive players you weaken the whole system.

[@lesp315]

WOKE is much bigger problem and you have tons of it in Canada with Trudeau on top.

[@Theoryofcatsndogs]

Is VW's software problem similar to Japan's software problem? Japanese products always focus on hardware, thus software is often an afterthought. Japanese companies rarely pay much attention to software, so software engineers/IT/programmers get lower pay. You have never heard of too many big software companies from Japan and Germany.

[@noelnyunting2431]

Video games are some heavy duty softwares and Japan pumps those out like crazy. For example Konami's Fox engine for the latter Metal Gear Solid games is a software engineering marvel.

[@mistermood4164]

@@noelnyunting2431 that's the only exception.

[@rdmytuser6695]

@@noelnyunting2431 developing games vs stable OS on vehicles that cannot fail are two different things

[@riemenscheider]

Compared to the US Germany has a rather small IT sector, but there is one company standing out: SAP. IT Jobs get paid well in Germany, but nowhere as good as in the US.

[@Pierluigi_Di_Lorenzo]

My Corolla 2017 has a lot of gimmicks, Adaptive Cruise Control, Infotainment w. touch screen, Lane-keeping assist, Pre-Collision System, Automatic High Beams, Road Sign Assist, Automatic Parking Assist. So far no problems.

[@JoachimKainz]

Little German pronunciation guide: an "ie" is also called a "long i". The "e" is not pronounced. The last name of Herbert Diess rhymes with the English word "lease".

[@benedictdesilva6677]

Painful how the speaker stubbornly refuses to pronounce so many words properly. *Porsche* is spoken to rhyme with English *porch* rather than to rhyme with *Porsch-say.* Also drops the *e* at the end of *Blume* to rhyme with *bloom* rather than correctly with *Bloom-meh.* If this is indeed an AI speaker then it should be more than straightforward to train the system to pronounce correctly.

[@Pierluigi_Di_Lorenzo]

See also Familie, Spaniel, Materie, Indien, Serie, Medien...

[@FifthGate]

​@@benedictdesilva6677don't watch if it's painful.

[@elymanic3497]

Germany Pumped China full of VW cars and no one complained now that theyre losing market share to BYD and other chinese makers they complaining and want tariffs on chinese auto makers.

[@andrewdubose9968]

Because China didn’t know how to build cars. Seems they learned a thing or two in all of these joint ventures that they forced onto Western automakers.

[@marcvb3364]

Free market is only great when it benefits me! $$$

[@andrewdubose9968]

@@marcvb3364 China is not a free market. They’re getting a taste of their own medicine, and evidently they don’t like it.

[@lvjinbin28]

When capitalists can't compete, They don't accept free trade and market economy anymore, They will be more protectionist than communist

[@miraphycs7377]

have you heard the phrase an eye for an eye, an ear for an ear? China has huge tariffs on imported cars and force foreign automaker into partnerships, joint venture and local production. When China starts producing and exporting cars to those countries, you expect it to go barrier and restriction free? Only China gets a one-free-way? What a naive thinking. China got the trade war and trade restriction it deserved. If china doesn't like it, either drop the tariffs on foreign cars or go do partnership, joint venture and local production like it forced on foreign cars.

[@bfn1960]

I have my Dad's 1997 Volkswagen Passat built-in Germany it was wonderful! but I'm not going to buy another one with all these plastic parts. This is very sad to hear 😢

[@AdilAchahbar-g9i]

Am I the only one who thinks that German cars, Mercedes and BMW in particular, their modern cars are ugly? Modern German cars have become very ugly. It seems that they have forgotten what made us love German cars in the 80s and 90s. Since 2018, German cars have become more ugly every year, with the exception of Audi.

[@Skullet]

No, I also think they're really ugly.

[@kc4276]

It’s because they changed their design language to suit the Chinese market.

[@AdilAchahbar-g9i]

@@kc4276 The Chinese played with the Germans. The Chinese are the reason Germany changed the designs of their cars to be uglier. Then came the Chinese car companies and swept the market.

[@captives6479]

@@kc4276 Nonsense

[@anonymousanonym450]

@@captives6479 cope

[@EskiZagra]

An acquaintance bought ID3. Missed work a couple of times since the car would not even start, lol. Poor quality, overly dependent on suppliers, know-how given to Chinese EV brands and letting them drive them out of the market. All EU brands are now screwed...

[@csours]

Among other things, this is the "Curse of being #1 in sales". GM had the curse, then Toyota, then Volkswagen. It is not exactly due to being #1 in sales, it is due to the decisions that the company makes as they PUSH for number one.

[@bariole]

You cannot fix software by buying it. Software is, comaprably, cheap to write and hard to transfer. If it is bad it is because of organizational issues. So even if they buy Rivian, the software is mostly nontransferable, while organization is the same. The issue with VW software is that it is assembled from parts provided by their cooperants. Large number of parts of VW cars are bought on free market, and VW had same approach to software as to any other bought part. What they should do is instead of buying camera with software, they should write software for a camera first and then order a matching camera. However their internal organization is driven by guys who treat software same as material engineering.

[@Noobmaster-sd1qm]

I bought Volkswagen shares yesterday :D

[@brovinmeka8824]

BRUH

[@johanalejandrocazadordepin7225]

your cheeks are going to be destroyed by the market

[@MrTechnicGaming1]

Market boutta have some cake

[@jackwalker9492]

Smart move!

[@kurzi7062]

Glückwunsch du Noob, viel Spaß mit 30% Verlust

[@mikeilikeit9685]

Very good they must learn to make bussiness peacefull

[@agnesg]

Their cars used to be simple, reliable and ran on diesel. But now- Volkswagen is overpriced, overcomplicated and more expensive to fix in the US than a domestic car. Its a no brainer from a consumer prospective why Volkswagen needs austerity measures to stay solvent.

[@priscidr]

My shitty breakdown prone Audi will beg to differ. German cars used to be synonymous with quality, but that’s not the case anymore. In this Economy, people don’t have time or money to buy only a brand. Cars need to be reliable. My car is only two years old and It’s already been to the shop 7 times. As soon as I can, I’m exchanging my current one for a Japanese brand.

[@breatheasy2693]

Its interesting that in india, the largest car companies are japanese, korean and of course, indian. European and american car makers are minor players, always on the verge of closing. Overpriced, underspeced, unreliable and not completely customized for rh driving and indian roads.

[@gotfan7743]

Both Japanese and Korean automakers have understood Indian market and are dynamic in their offerings. European car makers expect everyone to sell their kidney to buy their cars without using their brains. Indian car buyers care about reliability, fuel efficiency, longevity, cost of ownership for a reasonable price point. The cost of servicing a German car makes any car owner cry here. The servicing will cost entire year's fuel costs when it comes to German cars. It looks like German car makers care only about how fast their cars go on autobahn neglecting all else.

[@alphana7055]

India is extremely minor economically, even poor africans are saying how ridiculously underdeveloped India is.

[@borghorsa1902]

India cannot overcome China. Problem number one with India is that it's aligned with totalitarian states. Bog no no for economic growth

[@lesp315]

Wait a second, they have roads in India? I know India has no sewer system.

[@breatheasy2693]

@@alphana7055 ok wumao enjoy your delusion

[@elsombero1747]

I was driving a rental VW ID3 and ID5 in 2023 (both also build in 2023) and both of those models were so garbage that I'm not surprised that they're now closing. Like I was driving the ID3 and they have 2 switches for windows and to open the windows on the back doors, you had to press a button. The speedometer unit looks like something from a chinese 125cc motorcycle. In comparison the Tesla Model S and some electric 2022 BMW EV seadan was way better than those ID models.

[@leifvieri4372]

Digitalization of the car is the problem... mainly the evil ideas taking ownership of the car and monetize it. Too much greed, too little business...

[@UndercoverDog]

Yeah. Also the additional electric stuff is more likely to break and makes repairing harder.

[@MrHiBeta]

I had a 1966 VW Beatle. Ran great.

[@ryanreedgibson]

They could start with his own executive package and by pulling out of China. For those who think that a partnership with the Chinese is reciprocal, it's not.

[@simondrake8909]

Serves them right, they've been trading on their 70s and 80s reputation for reliability and quality for decades. In reality their cars are poorly engineered and overly complicated junk.

[@zelbug9995]

Volkswagen build quality is very poor. German quality in general has declined rapidly in the last 15 years. Even their engineering has become mediocre.

[@misterchris8916]

false

[@Pierluigi_Di_Lorenzo]

True.

[@blackrifle6736]

*Truth! Sad result of accountants ascending to the C-suite. Engineers are made subservient, demoted and silenced.*

[@peterwindsor9466]

Love my VW convertable ,so reliable ,cheap to run and insure. Increased in value ,mind you it was built in 1974 !

[@igypop.]

1980's made in W.Germany = quality, 2020's made in Germany = sh*t..

[@lg_believe333]

VW have an uphill battle to get back on top. Germanys obsession with the combustion engine and its reluctance to embrace EV’s has let Tesla get the upper hand.

[@ImNotPotus]

Volkswagen had to close factories before today. Mostly because the British and Americans would send "parts" by airmail to them.

[@samsonsoturian6013]

Vhut?

[@ImNotPotus]

@@samsonsoturian6013 The vhut were between 500 and 1,500 pounds of ordinance.

[@anush_agrawal]

​@@samsonsoturian6013Air biombing during ww2

[@yourfast07]

All vw had to do is listen to customers what they want and not tell customers what to buy, on top focus on quality fit and finish and less plastic parts in engine compartment.

[@krisameryckx]

VW is shutting down right now their Audi factory in Brussels, Belgium. VW is now trying to sell their Brussels factory.

[@cos_marc]

maybe because Q8 doesn't have so big customer base.

[@volkergiesbrecht5829]

Source?

[@cos_marc]

@@volkergiesbrecht5829 reuters. "Demand for Audi's Q8 e-tron, launched in 2018, had dropped sharply and the carmaker was considering ending its production altogether, with one source close to the company saying this could happen in 2025. The Brussels site, which built around 50,000 cars last year, also faced "long-standing structural challenges" including difficulty in changing its layout due to proximity to the city and high logistics costs."

[@jonasdauerbrenner6432]

the german labour laws are a big problem, especially the unions. the workers there get ridiculous wages for the work they do and every 2 years basically they want 10% more and less working hours. this puts a lot of pressure on the financials and increses competition.

[@riemenscheider]

Also a disadvantage for VW: 20% of VW is owned by the German state of Lower Saxony, with a special law in place that they can veto every decision. VW pays well above average salaries for its factory workers and because of the government involvement and strong unions, firing workers is very hard and very expensive. And Volkswagen has with 600 000 employees (>100 000 in Germany) more than any other automobile company.

[@leftifornian2066]

They’re old and stuck in their ways

[@artmaknev3738]

One thing about Germany is the lack of good discount deals on anything, at most you can get like a laughable $600 on a new VW $40,000 car, so of-course people will choose a much cheaper Chinese car. If they offered good discounts they could sell ton of cars instead of keeping them unsold for years....

[@user-yt198]

Isn't this the company who committed fraud in exhaust emissions, aka Dieselgate?

[@albinklein7680]

Who tf cares about that sh*t?

[@harat-xwb]

@@albinklein7680 Honest citizens, for example me.

[@albinklein7680]

@@harat-xwb Diesel emissions regulations are the by far biggest scam ever inflicted on normal people. The government literally banned the most economic and reliable cars.

[@riemenscheider]

Yeah and still all Diesel engines by Volkswagen were better for the environment than all American cars. Basically for gasoline engines there a no restrictions but for Diesel extremely high ones? Sounds to me that American regulators knew American companies cant build a decent Diesel and decided to help them get rid of competition.

[@harat-xwb]

@@riemenscheider You are missing the point. Regulations may be wrong, they may be unfair. But you cannot fake things and deceive everyone to circumvent those rules. I am not American and I don't support them, but I know that they are very harsh to (financial) deceptions and they cannot tolerate it (See Elisabeth Holmes, Sam Bankman-Fried, etc). If I did business with them, I would not even think about what VW did.

[@randyreynolds1045]

Bring back the engine that works! The TDI❤

[@onsokumaru4663]

1:17 SEAT is not an acronym, it's a word pronounced: "sea-at" or "see-at"

[@Pierluigi_Di_Lorenzo]

It is an acronym and stands for 'Sociedad Española de Automóviles de Turismo'.

[@onsokumaru4663]

@@Pierluigi_Di_Lorenzo I stand corrected.

[@Pierluigi_Di_Lorenzo]

@@onsokumaru4663 You are correct w. r. t. the pronunciation.

[@genegleason4987]

Read the VW atlas complaint page . The touchscreen info center is a nightmare for some owners . Water pumps on the v6 seem to be a major problem . Dealers not helping with problems .

[@h2489-m2l]

Making cars that gradually fewer people want?

[@anijon]

The Canadian gov/ more Justin T gave VW $21 Billion to open factories in Canada. Could be reason why they want to close factories in Germany. Also a point that was completely missed in the video, over $15 Billion was spent on the diesel gate/ clean Diesel.

[@bobbyr8071]

Darwin’s theory of natural selection 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

[@JordanKeller]

Exactly, boohoo figure it out idiots

[@oliversorensen5178]

Excellent program

[@Czechbound]

*PAUSE * : They sold Bugatti to Rimac

[@Gromkiii]

My MB w212 year 2012 400000 km still goes smooth is beautiful elegant and I don't have a plain to slod it. I just upgrade audio system with cheap Chinese android 12 aftermarket for my model and is now even better and more solid car than new ones lol.

[@KA9DSL]

Too many engineers on a ladder trying to change a ceiling bulb.

[@1s3ngr1m]

Maybe VW should simply stick to something it CAN do: making good ICE-cars instead of incredibly bad EVs The outside factors of high worker prices, the most expensive power in the world...these are not in VWs range to change, but from the incredibly bad politicians

[@cos_marc]

the ID.7 is a great car, just 15k too expensive.

[@TheRubsi]

German here (VW driver and shareholder). At least in Germany VW has actually made it to the top when it comes to EV sales, even outdoing Tesla. But probably not in the rest of Europe yet. Also, nobody here is worried about VW going under or about some plants being closed down. There is some fearmongering in the media, but that's just normal "background radiation" that nobody with a brain cares about. The CEO and management also alwasy have to vastly overblow how tough the issues are so that they don't get public backlash from the government, Unions and public as a whole when they fire people. firing even a single person is considered a capital offence in Germany, hence the fearmongering.

[@jackwalker9492]

Yeah. Well Germany is about the size of the State of Oregon, so establishing the supporting infrastructure is just a "little" bit easier than a country the size of the US. Plus, EVs are expensive and hate to tell you, that electricity you use comes from fossil fuels.

[@yo2trader539]

VW's profits for 1H2024 was €10bn. Nobody is worried about VW. There is only one automaker in the world that makes more money than VW. And all German and Japanese automakers are losing marketshare in China, so it's not a VW-only issue. I have a strong suspicion that VW is playing chess. You can also call it black mail. They want something from the German government. I thought the same when Stellantis announced it will close an EV factory in Brussels. If I had to guess European automakers are quietly asking unrealistic policies on European EV mandates to be revised/updated. Insufficient consumer demand for EVs strongly implies that none of the automakers will be able to meet EV mandates current in place.

[@brianminsk8]

Imagine being such a shameless bootlicker 🤡

[@mostbeautifulroads9789]

​@@jackwalker9492 Maybe in the US but not in Germany and especially most of Europe. Besides EV's do have the potential to be charged with more and more renewables over time while ICE will always be 100% fossils. Not the right place ton argue EVs but if you think anything but EVs will be the future you'll most probably be surprised.

[@oceanwave4502]

When VW loses in China, it means it could lose market share in many places in the world, outside of western world. For example, in Africa, South America or Asia. Luxurious brands like Porsche may survive as 200k per piece for a car can be sold with 250k or more. (due to increased cost). But VW is hopeless in the long term.

[@richardyao9012]

Tesla has fewer workers working on each car. More workers usually means things take more time, not less. The reason for that is that you have automation reducing the number of workers needed and the automation is designed to move faster. Also, Tesla did not design all of its factories from the ground up for EVs. The Fremont factory was purchased from Toyota. It was converted to produce EVs.

[@tsumarev]

VW in 200 billions debt, they need goverment bailout to pay it. Effective finance managers killed company. Common thing today. 😢

[@NorthernContrarian]

Correction, Porsche owns the controlling shares of Volkswagen. Porsche Automobil Holding SE owns 31.4% of equity and 53.3% of votes in Volkswagen.

[@williamzander4732]

The electric van isnt here yet

[@Ikbeneengeit]

Seen them for a couple years in the Netherlands already

[@BerryMike-d9v]

My first car is a golf mk4, with just less than 15years in my hands there were few problems especially last 5 years such as ac failure etc. when buy second one, I have zero thought of possibility of another VW.

[@TheWizardGamez]

moustache man is very angry

[@andrewdubose9968]

Deiter Zeche? 😉

[@ionutturcutvoda3545]

Once China will start to build car factories in Europe, that`s it for VW.

[@gediminasrudokas9531]

This is what happens when politicians are more concerned helping waves of “doctors” and “engineers” rather than their own citizens and country

[@Aston996]

Volkswagen owned the Ducati band and sold the Bugatti to Rimac Group but a joint venture between Rimac Group and Porsche AG.

[@Oscarnodwannabe]

Me watching this 1 month after buying my first VW EV. 😢

[@khalidrashad-xu8xe]

The German government unabated support of g side , even against it own citizens will, has put off millions of people around the world from buying any German product let alone cars . I had a Mercedes, BMW and VW, sold them all 😅

[@TelcirisWarlock]

Das Globalization

[@sucveceza156]

I'm not talking about cultural globalization, but if it weren't for economic globalization, VW would probably be dead long ago.

[@SpiteBellow]

I hope they can pivot and listen to customer expectations. Sidenote: does anyone else want zero giant screens in an electric vehicle? just pure mechanical dials/knobs and call it the economy package?