this post was submitted on 10 Jul 2026
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Volkswagen is trying to implement a comprehensive cost-cutting programme with up to 100,000 job losses, double the amount previously planned, by 2030 and the potential contraction or closure of several plants.

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[–] madnificent@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Volkswagen gets a lot of bad rep but as I understand it, it's not a horrible company. They have a very strong worker union. To my understanding they can't close a factory in Germany without a union's approval. That in itself is a huge handicap over BYD where workers get far fewer rights.

Volkswagen used to be one of the largest exporters from the EU. If I were a liberal foreign entity then I'd love for some dirt to stick to that. They have continued to focus on keeping their German workforce employed rather than producing everything overseas though they were proud to announce that they could do a full car development and production cycle in China a few years back so things do change.

Not that I care too much for the brand but I find it very odd how Volkswagen is getting so much hate.

If we want a closer apples to apples comparison, we should at least demand that our imports have been produced under the same environmental and workplace standards as we have here or better.

[–] kossa@feddit.org 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

it's not a horrible company

😅. It was literally started by Hitler himself.

"But that was a long time ago"...yeah, well. Then give BYD some ~50ish years, by then BYD might be as righteous as Volkswagen is now...cough Dieselgate, cough.

[–] madnificent@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Cfr Hitler, sure. But either we should have slashed it back then or we should accept it as it is. It was nearly disbanded but the British though it was better to keep a workers' factory (I should look it up though).

Perhaps it's ok to look at the now. They are to my understanding one of the most worker-centered companies of their scale. Certainly not something for libertarians to like. BYD can improve worker conditions. That would be great and I'm all for that. I also like that they brought the price of BEVs down. I do believe that if we want to raise standards as humanity in a global setting, that we should demand products entering the market to have followed those standards. Like we already do with safety standards. That makes it interesting for regions to raise the bar also.

For dieselgate I was also very 🤢 about that and did not care too much for the brand. Yet later many other makes were found to do the same tricks but VW somehow got singled out. I still don't know why, they were first to be discovered but perhaps there's more to it?

I'm glad the scandal got discovered. It pushed BEV forward. We should do the very best we can to stop using oil, ideally in a fair and open world.