Interview: „Der Gesamtmarkt in China ist im freien Fall“
Chinas Zeiten als Wachstumsmarkt sind für VW vorbei, sagt Chinachef Ralf Brandstätter. Nun muss der Konzern seine Autos anderswo verkaufen. Sonst wird der milliardenschwere Sparkurs noch teurer.
Volkswagen, the second-largest automaker in the world, is bracing for a permanent decline in its Chinese sales. In an interview with the Handelsblatt, VW's China chief Ralf Brandstätter said the group could sell only about 2.2 million vehicles annually by 2030 in the country, its biggest market. He had previously forecast 3.2 million units for the year.
For comparison, during peak times, VW sold more than four million cars in China. The cause is the reduced overall demand in China. In the first nine months of this year, VW deliveries fell 30 percent to under 1.4 million vehicles. By the end of the year, the Volkswagen group could slip below the two-million-car mark in China, the first time since 2010.
This could make Volkswagen's global restructuring more expensive. The reason: Volkswagen's cost-cutting and investment plans are based on a worldwide sales volume of around nine million cars per year. Without the Chinese numbers, the company would have to sell them elsewhere – or cut costs even further.
Written by urgent.news from Handelsblatt's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
