BERLIN — Volkswagen Group is shifting extra manufacturing to North America and China because of the conflict in Ukraine and can prioritize China this yr, CEO Herbert Diess mentioned in a press name on Tuesday.
“We’ll shift extra into China due to the scenario in Europe,” Diess mentioned. When requested about how the carmaker would reply within the occasion that China attacked Taiwan, he mentioned that he didn’t imagine the nation would take such a step.
“China has a excessive curiosity to maintain borders open,” Diess mentioned. “We predict it’s an asset for us to be sturdy in China… China is a stronghold for us.”
The carmaker has suspended manufacturing in Russia following the nation’s invasion of Ukraine.
An absence of wire harnesses usually sourced from Ukraine was probably the most important provide chain constraint for the time being, Diess mentioned, affecting most German vegetation. If it couldn’t relocate manufacturing in 3-Four weeks, its outlook would have to be revised, Diess mentioned.
VW additionally warned that semiconductor shortages, provide bottlenecks, excessive commodity costs and the Russia-Ukraine conflict might hit development in 2022, because the challenges going through the auto trade mount.
“The conflict within the Ukraine has put our current outlook into query,” CEO Herbert Diess mentioned on the automaker’s annual press convention on Tuesday.
Diess warned that commodity markets are prone to stay unstable till 2026.
He mentioned VW had grow to be extra resilient by means of the coronavirus pandemic and beneath regular circumstances would have motive for optimism for 2022.