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Bloomberg
Volkswagen AG plans to bundle the components businesses of its different brands to save costs and will review disposing of peripheral assets, according to people familiar with the matter, part of a sweeping strategy review by CEO Matthias Mueller as he seeks to navigate Europe’s largest carmaker out of the emissions scandal.
VW’s senior management presented a plan to the supervisory board on Tuesday and may announce the steps as part of a presentation on Thursday, said the people, who asked not to be identified because talks are private.
The diesel scandal, which has rocked VW since it admitted in September to cheating on emissions tests, has forced the company to make cuts as it faces billions in fines and expenses to fix as many as 11 million cars. Mueller’s strategy update is aimed at moving the company beyond the worst crisis in its history.
He’s already acknowledged that VW is too unwieldy and too static, and needs to catch up on technologies such as car-sharing and electric vehicles.
The carmaker plans to merge the components units of each brand into one new entity that would include about 70,000 employees at more than two dozen locations worldwide, allowing it to trim spending and boost efficiency from a single management and unified strategy, said the people.
VW was a pioneer more than a decade ago at pooling manufacturing resources by sharing platforms for similar cars from its different ranges, which include the namesake brand, as well as the luxury Audi marque, Czech Skoda Auto and Seat of Spain. In all, Volkswagen owns 12 brands.