Volkswagen is considering closing its flagship plant in Wolfsburg. Bestsellers such as Tiguan or Golf are created there. This will affect the waiting times for cars.
This is not the best time for people who are considering buying a new car. In addition to the ever-increasing prices, we are talking about big problems with the availability of cars. The ongoing “semiconductor crisis” and the fact that the industry is still grappling with the effects of broken supply chains (due to the coronavirus and the war in Ukraine) mean that cars are “stock”, i.e. squares, simply not, and a custom-made car for production means a months-long wait. In some brands, the car has to wait more than a year, and record holders (for example, Toyota in the case of the new, “big” Land Cruiser) tell buyers to wait … three years.
The situation is getting a little better.
Experts say the industry will breathe a sigh of relief in 2023. The situation is gradually improving. This doesn’t mean there won’t be problems. For example, Volkswagen is fighting them.
“The group is facing problems that it was not previously aware of,” said Thomas Schaefer, president of the Volkswagen brand, in an interview with a German newspaper quoted by Interia. He is referring to the mentioned problems with semiconductors, as well as the troubles associated with the war. Unfortunately, there is no light at the end of the tunnel in this case.
Volkswagen may plan for downtime at its flagship plant
According to Business Insider, Volkswagen is currently only using about half the capacity of its flagship plant in Wolfsburg. Cars like the Tiguan or the Golf, and the factory employs 60,000 workers.
But half of the production capacity is still too much for the current situation. “Everything indicates that in January of the new year the concern will be forced to introduce temporary shutdowns at the above production. The closure may include: sheet metal shop, paint shop and other surrounding areas,” Interia said. What does this mean? Of course, even more waiting time for cars …
Source: Wprost
