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I would hope that the largest car company in Europe still outsells others in their home countries. They are pushing everything they have into Europe where they

einr 3y ago
I would hope that the largest car company in Europe still outsells others in their home countries. They are pushing everything they have into Europe where they still have the largest lead in Mindspace, Dealerships, Relations with Leasing partners etc. This is not really surprising or bad strategy. VW has zero chance in China and America is a very underdeveloped market so focusing on Europe makes all the sense in the world. The question was whether they have competitive products right now and I find it really strange to say they don't when they have the #4 and #5 best selling EVs in all of Europe (not just Germany): https://www.statista.com/statistics/972845/electric-vehicles-leading-models-europe/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/972845/electric-vehicles... There are more very successful VAG products in there too, like the Audi eTron and the Skoda Enyaq. They might be unable to sustain this -- I don't know -- but right now, as a Swedish dude in Sweden, VW is very much looking like one of the winners judging by what cars I see on the road. Also: any statement to the effect of "Tesla will release a new product soon" I will take with a mountain of salt, considering their track record.
- starbugs 3y ago
  > The question was whether they have competitive products right now and I find it really strange to say they don't when they have the #4 and #5 best selling EVs in all of Europe (not just Germany) You can have high sales numbers and still not be competitive if you don't turn those sales into viable profits. I think it's also important to distinguish between the VW brand and company. The article explicitly says: > “With many of our pre-existing structures, processes and high costs, we are no longer competitive as the Volkswagen brand,” Thomas Schaefer told staff during a meeting at the German carmaker’s headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany, according to a post on the company’s intranet site seen by Reuters.’ So there can be no doubt that the VW brand is in trouble with regards to competitiveness. The company may still be doing "fine" due to high end brands still performing well.
  - einr 3y ago
    You can have high sales numbers and still not be competitive if you don't turn those sales into viable profits. I guess the confusion here is between the company being competitive -- as in making money -- and having products that are competitive in the marketplace -- as in consumers buy a lot of them and frequently pick them over other options. Slightly different meanings for the same word -- fair enough. I was thinking of this as a consumer/man-on-the-street looking at all the VWs, not as someone looking at quarterly earnings.
    - starbugs 3y ago
      > I guess the confusion here is between the company being competitive -- as in making money -- and having products that are competitive in the marketplace This is almost certainly going to boil down to being the same in the end. If your company/brand is not competitive, you won't be able to sustain competitiveness in sales long term. Unless you are a rather novel growth company who are able to get enough investments to compensate for the non-existing profits. VW has a special place, because it's intertwined with the state and German politicians will do anything to make it look as if they are still doing okay and have a bright future.

einr 3y ago

I would hope that the largest car company in Europe still outsells others in their home countries. They are pushing everything they have into Europe where they still have the largest lead in Mindspace, Dealerships, Relations with Leasing partners etc. This is not really surprising or bad strategy. VW has zero chance in China and America is a very underdeveloped market so focusing on Europe makes all the sense in the world. The question was whether they have competitive products right now and I find it really strange to say they don't when they have the #4 and #5 best selling EVs in all of Europe (not just Germany): https://www.statista.com/statistics/972845/electric-vehicles-leading-models-europe/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/972845/electric-vehicles... There are more very successful VAG products in there too, like the Audi eTron and the Skoda Enyaq. They might be unable to sustain this -- I don't know -- but right now, as a Swedish dude in Sweden, VW is very much looking like one of the winners judging by what cars I see on the road. Also: any statement to the effect of "Tesla will release a new product soon" I will take with a mountain of salt, considering their track record.

starbugs 3y ago
> The question was whether they have competitive products right now and I find it really strange to say they don't when they have the #4 and #5 best selling EVs in all of Europe (not just Germany) You can have high sales numbers and still not be competitive if you don't turn those sales into viable profits. I think it's also important to distinguish between the VW brand and company. The article explicitly says: > “With many of our pre-existing structures, processes and high costs, we are no longer competitive as the Volkswagen brand,” Thomas Schaefer told staff during a meeting at the German carmaker’s headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany, according to a post on the company’s intranet site seen by Reuters.’ So there can be no doubt that the VW brand is in trouble with regards to competitiveness. The company may still be doing "fine" due to high end brands still performing well.
- einr 3y ago
  You can have high sales numbers and still not be competitive if you don't turn those sales into viable profits. I guess the confusion here is between the company being competitive -- as in making money -- and having products that are competitive in the marketplace -- as in consumers buy a lot of them and frequently pick them over other options. Slightly different meanings for the same word -- fair enough. I was thinking of this as a consumer/man-on-the-street looking at all the VWs, not as someone looking at quarterly earnings.
  - starbugs 3y ago
    > I guess the confusion here is between the company being competitive -- as in making money -- and having products that are competitive in the marketplace This is almost certainly going to boil down to being the same in the end. If your company/brand is not competitive, you won't be able to sustain competitiveness in sales long term. Unless you are a rather novel growth company who are able to get enough investments to compensate for the non-existing profits. VW has a special place, because it's intertwined with the state and German politicians will do anything to make it look as if they are still doing okay and have a bright future.