Rejection of Esken to VW: We have no money for purchase premiums
08.09.2024, 16:51 Listen to article
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Should the state help VW with purchase bonuses? This idea comes from the company’s top management. But the SPD has now clearly rejected it. There is no money for that, says party leader Esken. But she has an alternative suggestion.
SPD leader Saskia Esken has reacted with sharp criticism to the VW Group management’s considerations of closing factories in Germany in order to cut costs. “VW management must ask itself whether it is leading the group into a sustainable future with layoffs and factory closures,” she told Handelsblatt, adding: “Especially in view of demographic change, this only exacerbates the crisis.”
Esken ruled out federal financial aid to stabilize the VW Group. Esken also rejects a new purchase premium for electric cars. “State premiums for electric cars are a useful instrument, but given the current budget situation, there is no money for that,” she said.
Esken accused the VW management of not taking electromobility seriously for “many years” and at the same time placing a strong emphasis on the Chinese market. But it is precisely this market that is now completely switching to electromobility and no longer works for VW. “We cannot solve this with political measures alone,” said Esken.
Prefer short-time work or “hub models”
Alternatively, the SPD politician suggested tackling the “acute problems” at VW with short-time work. “The four-day week that has been used in the past is also a model,” she said. When it comes to sustainable personnel concepts, “hub models” also make sense. “This enables employees to switch to another employer and keeps the option of bringing them back into the company.”
VW wants to lay off employees on a massive scale and possibly close factories. Group board member Oliver Blume described the situation as alarming. The situation at the VW brand is “so serious that you can’t just let everything carry on as before,” Blume told “Bild am Sonntag”. “Fewer vehicles are being bought in Europe. At the same time, new competitors from Asia are entering the market with force. The pie has become smaller and we have more guests at the table.”
