Europe will get rid of its carelessness. The automotive industry is suffocating strong unions and tough regulations

Diess is undoubtedly a very quirky manager who has taken a number of controversial steps and his brutal transformation of Volkswagen into the world’s leading electric car manufacturer will hurt a lot (and it is not at all certain that he will be successful). It would therefore be terribly easy to say where Diess makes mistakes everywhere. But let’s be fair and let’s take a look at his opponents – the trade unions, who in Germany have a vital role to play in the management of huge corporations such as Volkswagen. They have their people on the board of directors, on supervisory boards, and in recent years they have built up such benefits that margins in VW are significantly lower than in the case of the Mladá Boleslav Škoda. Without trade unions, production automation could be much greater and profitability would increase.

At the same time, it is money that could have been invested in technological development for many years, and European carmakers would no longer be dependent on the supply of obsolete chips. At the same time, it is somewhat symbolic that Diess’s cancellation of a business trip on Wall Street comes at a time when the American Tesla has taken the lead in car sales in Europe. And beware: Tesla model 3, which Elona Muska imports to Europe from China!

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