Picture courtesy Volkswagen

A Volkswagen exec who – understandably – would prefer to remain anonymous, sent me this turn-around plan for his embattled employer. Submitted without further comment.

• Stop the single-minded focus on headcount alone.
• Dissolve Cariad. Move responsibilities back to the brand groups.
• Source state-of-the-art mobility and connectivity solutions from suppliers.
• Outside of core competency areas, cooperate with suppliers in early phases of development, abandon expensive and non-functioning do-it-yourself.
• Immediately stop in-house development and production of batteries. Volkswagen Group builds cars, not batteries.
• Completely revamp vehicle production (unboxing-concepts.) Dump our old fashioned methods.
• Start-Of-Production (SOP) planning must become reliable again, not a moving target.
• Set drastically higher standards for quality and features of on-board software, especially ADAS.
• R&D engineers must research and develop again, must stop playing coordinator for suppliers (double costing.)
• Shorter development cycles, especially for software. Software does not follow multi-year cycles.
• Reduce involvement of consultants.
• Cancel investment into marginal companies like Northvolt, Rivian, Varta, or Xpeng.
• Lobby governments to end CO2 penalties, stop technological bias, be open to new ideas.