[In its effort to push through reforms, the automaker's management draws more support from Lower Saxony, which now has a conservative premier, Christian Wulff. He appears concerned about the company's long-term prospects as well as jobs for his state.] We can't be a toy for politicians that play (with) us once in awhile, ... Governments come and go but we have to be there for the long run. |
[Volkswagen] is a company in crisis, ... People need to understand that. They have to change. |
Although the Volkswagen mini-van shares its basic architecture with upcoming Chrysler and Dodge vehicles, this will be an all new product. |
Although the Volkswagen minivan shares its basic architecture with upcoming Chrysler and Dodge vehicles, this will be an all-new product. |
By 2010, we will bring between five and 10 completely new models ... to market. |
Following a comprehensive analysis, we determined ... that the competitiveness at a sizeable portion of our components business is endangered and a considerable portion are far removed from being competitive at all. |
I think we have turned the corner in the United States, |
I think we have turned the corner in the United States. I am very confident we will see rising car sales in the United States. |
In the VW product range, we are missing a van for families which meets the necessary requirements of our American customers. With this new vehicle, we are going to enter another important market segment with our own product. |
It's a company in crisis. People need to understand that. They have to change. |
Our German factories must be able produce at prices appropriate for export. |
Ten of them will be entirely new models. |
The main thing is that we can now produce and export the vehicle in Germany in competitive conditions. |
The next three years will be decisive for us, ... If we don't succeed in the next three years, there'll be an acute crisis at Volkswagen. |
The problems aren't dissimilar to what I worked on at Chrysler, ... We have to work on our cost-competitiveness, we need to improve our quality, and we need to come up with new and exciting vehicles. |