New Volkswagen AG CEO Mathias Müller has warned employees that the recent emissions scandal will severely hurt the company’s fortunes and lead to massive cuts.
He told some 20,000 workers at the Wolfsburg headquarters that the upcoming changes within the group won’t be painless, according to a report by AFP.
While Volkswagen has already set aside €6.5 billion for recalls and repairs to be performed in the next few weeks, Müller cautioned that this clearly won’t be enough.
"While the technical solutions to these problems are imminent, it is not possible to quantify the commercial and financial implications at present," he said while adding that VW will fight hard to limit the aforementioned cuts as much as possible and overcome this crisis.
By the way, a total of 660,000 people currently work for the various makes owned by Volkswagen AG.
The turmoil has left the auto giant with one important task – to win back the trust of customers, partners, investors, and the general public. According to Müller, the first step toward achieving that was swift and relentless clarification.
“Only when everything has been put on the table, when no single stone has been left unturned, only then will people begin to trust us again,” he said.
Some German media, which estimated that Volkswagen AG could lose approximately €50 billion when it’s all said and done, also hinted that a number of brands could be sold including Lamborghini and Ducati.