Volkswagen thinking about more cost cuts to help cope with the economic impact of the coronavirus, a spokesman for the automaker said on Saturday.
The issue was discussed just recently at an internal event, the spokesman stated, when asked about a report in industry magazine Automobilwoche.
“There were general deliberations about what additional cost measures could be taken to deal with the pandemic,” the spokesman informed Reuters. “There are no concrete decisions yet.”
Automobilwoche quoted Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess as informing top managers at a meeting on Thursday: “We must significantly cut R&D expenditure, investments and fixed costs compared with the previous planning.”
The group’s net liquidity would keep experiencing “decline at least until July due to weak demand”, the magazine, citing participants at the event, quoted Diess as saying, adding that not all brands of the automaker would achieve a positive result in this year.
This indicates that the main Volkswagen passenger car brand must decrease its so-called material overheads by 20%, the magazine added.
This week, Volkswagen’s luxury brand Bentley said that it is planning to cut 1,000 jobs in the UK.
