• slashkehrin@alien.top
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    1 year ago

    So many annoying headlines like this lately with CEOs whining about the current state of the market as if we should feel bad for them.

    Schaefer isn’t whining. Did you even read the article? He said that internally to gain support for the savings program.

    They’ve been sitting fat and happy despite knowing the market would be changing, for better or for worse.

    I don’t actually know the profit margin or investments that VW did over the past 6 years (as if that would reflect current offerings anyways), but it sounds like you don’t know either.

    • actuallychrisgillen@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      Short answer: They’re profitable (In the billions), but on a company that big their profit margins are very slim, about 7%.

      People see a profit of 16-20 Billion and think the company must be rolling in it, but as a percentage they’re not doing great and I can see why the CEO is concerned.

      • Recoil42@alien.topB
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        1 year ago

        Schaefer’s actually talking about the Volkswagen brand, which is even worse, at around 3% — Audi and Porsche are doing fine, but they’re being dragged down by Volkswagen. A bigger problem for Volkswagen right now is they invested wildly into EVs, and are now having trouble justifying those expenses while their AV and SDV efforts flounder. Not long ago the committed figure was a staggering $193B for all three, which means they have a lot of cars to sell.