(Bloomberg) -- Europe’s largest economy is in trouble and Volkswagen, the storied German auto giant, is at the heart of the crisis. A number of issues ranging from the rise of electric vehicles to Chinese competition have left the iconic carmaker in a bad spot. Now, with announced mass layoffs and historic factory closures on the way, can Volkswagen turn things around?
In this Bloomberg Originals mini-documentary, we explore why a company that became a symbol of postwar Germany and its engineering prowess has a market capitalization low enough to rival the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis and the company’s 2015 emissions scandal. And with Donald Trump’s threats of tariffs in the US, things may be about to get worse in Volkswagen’s biggest export market.
Volkswagen workers across Germany plan to stage mass walkouts starting early next month after labor leaders and management failed to reach an agreement over how to slash costs at the carmaker’s namesake brand. While management has argued the company needs to shutter three German factories and fire thousands of workers, union representatives have pushed to keep plants open.
More broadly, cars and the domestic giants that make them have long been integral to Germany’s industrial might. Volkswagen’s predicament may end up being more than simply an existential crisis for a famous automaker, but another major symptom of the country’s industrial retreat.
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