VW Identifies $2 Billion In Savings, Will Cut Back On Variants And Trim Options

In the wake of its diesel and CO2 emissions cheating scandal, the Volkswagen Group has undertaken a massive cost-cutting program that CEO Matthias Müller says will lead to anything not being absolutely necessary either getting canceled or postponed.

VW has already confirmed that its investment bill for 2016 will be reduced by $1 billion euros (approximately $1.05 billion), and now there are reports the automaker has identified as much as 1.9 billion euros ($2.0 billion) in cost savings.

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Some of the savings will be brought about by reducing the number of variants and trim options, particularly for VW-branded cars. Some senior executives will also receive lower bonuses. The information was revealed to Bloomberg by Bernd Osterloh, who represents VW’s workers.

“We from the works council have long flagged the huge range of model variants and different components,” Osterloh explained. “That brings enormous complexity and adds to costs, for example, for logistics."