Interessante analisi di Automotive News  sulla vittoria di Pischetsrieder dopo mesi di speculazioni sul suo futuro.
L'articolo si pone molti dubbi su come potrà ridurre i costi alla VW.
 

NEWS ANALYSIS

Pischetsrieder wins, but can he still cut costs?

Jason Stein  |   |  Automotive News / May 22, 2006 - 6:00 am
 

HAMBURG, Germany -- Just after 9 p.m. on May 2, after months of speculation and hours of final arm-twisting, Bernd Pischetsrieder emerged from a conference room inside the luxurious Hotel Atlantic Kempinski Hamburg with this much clear: His future as Volkswagen AG chairman was secure.

The ramifications of his five-year contract extension were less obvious.

How much did Pischetsrieder give away to get the unanimous support of the 20-member supervisory board? And how will it affect VW's restructuring efforts?

Union and supervisory board sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, say Pischetsrieder's extension included the promise that the preservation of jobs in Germany would be just as important as profitability.

"His deal did not go through without concessions for labor in the restructuring," a supervisory board source said. "This was a pure deal between the labor and the capital side."

The deal means Pischetsrieder, 58, personally will oversee the negotiations between the union and the company over the future of VW's components plants, sources said.
 
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Keeping score at VW
UP

Bernd Pischetsrieder, VW AG chairman: Gets 5-year contract extension
Bernd Osterloh, chairman of VW works council: Preserves union jobs in Germany

DOWN

Wolfgang Bernhard, VW brand chairman: Loses freedom to cut costs
Ferdinand Piech, chairman of VW supervisory board: Shareholder dismay, public comments tarnish his image

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Parts plants safe?

Most restructuring at the high-cost, high-labor parts plants will be delayed at least until the end of the year. And it is likely VW will not sell off its main engine and transmission production plants.

Keeping the components plants was a concession to the unions to justify other changes at VW's main factory in Wolfsburg, including the change to a 35-hour workweek, the same supervisory board source said. For the past 12 years, VW's Wolfsburg employees have worked 28.8 hours a week.

Said Arndt Ellinghorst, an auto analyst at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein in Frankfurt: "It means the company will try to spin off some smaller units but not the big engine business. The majority of the business will stay at VW.

"If they try to sell off something major, the union will complain. That's not what the company needs."

Components plants that produce axles, transmissions and engines are VW's greatest drag. Unlike most European automakers, VW still makes 40 percent of its components.

Selling the parts plants would have accounted for nearly half of VW's previously announced 20,000 job cuts. German plants under consideration were Braunschweig, Salzgitter and Kassel.

Cutting the deal

Behind the scenes, the deal came about only after extensive arm-twisting within the supervisory board. In the final hours before Pischetsrieder's contract became public, the dealing was fierce.

The union source said the supervisory board meeting at the Hamburg hotel started nearly three hours later than anticipated so the unions could cut a deal with management.

The board split up into meetings of two groups: unions and management. The management side agreed to support Pischetsrieder. The unions insisted on a guarantee of job protection if they were to provide unanimous support. Ultimately, the compromise on components plants was reached.

The decision likely means a softening of the cuts that VW brand Chairman Wolfgang Bernhard promised to make when he accepted his position last spring.

And it could prevent VW from achieving its financial targets. Last month VW reported that its first-quarter profit rose to 327 million euros ($417.8 million). VW plans to more than triple pretax profit to about $6.5 billion by 2008.

Some analysts say those targets are unrealistic if components plants are not closed.

"What the company is predicting is a historical peak in margins when they are at the trough in their product cycle," said analyst Ellinghorst. "That is something no company has achieved in this industry."

Henning Krogh and Felix Bauer contributed to this report