VW’s Cariad may be facing personnel issues

According to reports by the German publication Manager Magazin, Cariad boss Peter Bosch wants to cut 2,000 of the 6,500 German jobs at Cariad. Bosch was brought in as a reorganiser to the still young but fast-growing software unit. Recently, the former Bentley executive is said to have presented his strategy for Cariad to the group’s board members – according to the report, there was also internal talk of a “rescue plan”.

At the meeting, Bosch apparently presented three key points: Firstly, he wants to cut 2,000 of the 6,500 jobs in Germany mentioned – details on locations or departments are only scarcely known, it will probably initially mainly affect administration. Secondly, under Bosch’s predecessors, Cariad had built up a network of around 40 company holdings. Here, the future viability is to be “examined” – half of these holdings are to be sold off again, according to the goal. In this way, Bosch wants to be able to restructure the organisation and make it more streamlined.

The third point was that there will be further delays. After the market launch of the electric models Audi Q6 e-tron and Porsche Macan has already been postponed several times due to delays in software development, there is now a further delay of 16 to 18 weeks. Nothing will happen before spring 2024,” writes Manager Magazin. This fits in with the fact that, according to a media report, the presentation of the Audi Q6 e-tron and allegedly also the Porsche Macan E will take place in March 2024 at the earliest. Both PPE models will use the E3 1.2 software.

But delays are already becoming apparent with other software versions as well. The future software E3 2.0, which was originally intended for all models of the VW, Seat, Cupra and Skoda brands from 2025 and later for all Group vehicles, is even being completely redeveloped. The SSP vehicle platform will thus be “largely rethought” once again. The previous development costs of around 1.5 billion euros will thus be “lost”.

Negotiations with the works council are one of the steps to be taken in order to push through the planned job cuts. There is an employment guarantee until the middle of 2025, but Bosch wants to cut jobs as early as 2024. The first reaction from the works council is hardly surprising: cutting almost a third of the jobs is completely incomprehensible. “It is now a matter of getting the software for the new models ready as quickly as possible,” “Manager Magazin” quotes Stefan Henze, the works council member responsible for Cariad. “We need every man and woman here.”

manager-magazin.de (in German, paywall)