According to a report from the German Manager Magazin, the carmaker allegedly wants to give Pablo Di Si the boot due to poor sales figures for the ID.4 in North America. The car was supposed to be built and sold 100,000 times a year in the US – VW expanded the factory in Chattanooga for this purpose. However, in the first three quarters of this year, VW only sold 16,400 units. There have been repeated recalls due to technical defects. Most recently, US authorities warned that the doors of the ID.4 could open while driving. Almost 100,000 vehicles are affected by the recall, and even worse, VW is currently not allowed to sell the model in the United States.
The current business figures in North America are also not favourable. VW’s earnings programme for the region is said to be 1.3 billion euros short of expectations by 2025. A deficit of 700 million euros alone is estimated for higher discounts, with an additional 900 million euros for lower sales figures and an unfavourable model mix. The few positive effects can only offset this to a small extent.
Country manager Pablo Di Si apparently planned far too positively, is now unable to deliver, and will thus probably have to resign soon. Stefan Mecha, currently head of VW in China, and Škoda CEO Klaus Zellmer are rumoured to be candidates to replace him.
In any case, the challenges in the US market are considerable. It is not only sales of the ID.4 that urgently need to be boosted, but also expectations for the ID.Buzz, the vehicle of hope, have apparently already dwindled. And the bread-and-butter car for the US market, the SUV called Atlas, which is not available in Europe, is also getting on in years.
VW also wants to become more American with the revitalised US brand Scout, which has been added to the portfolio following the takeover of truck manufacturer Navistar. Scout plans to present its first two models as early as next week, namely an SUV and a pickup truck, which will compete against popular models such as the Ford F-150, the Ram 1500 and the Chevrolet Silverado. Scout was actually supposed to be a purely electric brand. However, according to Manager Magazin, VW is now considering also offering plug-in hybrids from Scout.
At the same time, the market launch of Scout is likely to be delayed by at least a year, according to the report. So far, Scout has announced a launch for the end of 2026 – but according to the report, this could become 2028.
manager-magazin.de (in German)
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Publish date : 2024-10-17 22:02:00
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