There’s always a first time

December 17, 2025 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Automobiles, Cars, Ecars, Germany, Industry, Jobs, Volkswagen Leave a comment

Then a second, then a third…

Volkswagen shutters a German plant for first time ever as Trump tariffs squeeze car giant – Volkswagen is ending vehicle production at its Dresden factory — the first time in the automaker’s 88-year history that it has closed a plant in its home country — as weakening demand and punishing US tariffs squeeze the German car giant.

The last vehicle rolled off the line Tuesday at the Dresden site, known as the “Transparent Factory” because of its glass-walled design, capping 24 years of production that began in 2001.

German of the day: Nostalgie

November 10, 2024 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Energy, German, Germany, Industry, Language, Volkswagen Leave a comment

That means nostalgia.

You know, the sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time? Way back when? In the past?

Germany’s Volkswagen crisis: an ode to nostalgia – Germany’s car manufacturer and long-time economic powerhouse Volkswagen has shaped the lives and memories of generations of Germans. It’s current crisis gives pause to reflect on its importance in Germany’s history.

Huge funeral attendance

October 28, 2024 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Automobiles, China, E-cars, Electric Cars, Germany, Industry, Strikes, Volkswagen, VW Leave a comment

At Germany’s automobile industry burial.

Volkswagen AG workers in Germany will pause production on Monday to join rallies about the automaker’s plans for unprecedented factory closures in the country.

Labor leaders plan to inform employees at 11 German sites about the latest on negotiations with the company. The events kick off a contentious week for Europe’s biggest carmaker, which is expected to post declining sales and profit when it reports third-quarter results on Wednesday…

The automaker has had a rough few weeks since it issued its second profit warning in three months in late September. While its premium brands including Audi and Porsche have been the carmaker’s biggest source of profit in recent years, they’re now struggling. Porsche AG on Friday said it’s weighing cost cuts and reviewing its model lineup after a demand slump in China hit its profits.

Car science isn’t rocket science, people

September 23, 2024 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Automobiles, Electric Cars, Employment, Germany, Industry, Subsidies, Volkswagen Leave a comment

Nobody wants Volkswagen’s electric cars.

The fewest German drivers do, anyway.

Driving on empty: The German government has few options to help an ailing car industry – Economy Minister Robert Habeck will meet with carmakers — but he has few weapons to stave off a car industry crisis.

Threats of historic job cuts and plant closures at German car giant Volkswagen and plunging earnings elsewhere in the industry are prompting Federal Economy Minister Robert Habeck to hold crisis talks on Monday.

But strained federal finances, fights with China over car tariffs and looming EU environmental regulations leave Habeck with few tools to help an industry which is the country’s economic backbone.

Last one out turn off the lights

September 4, 2024 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Economy, Energy, Germany, Government, Greens, Intel, Investments, Regulations, Volkswagen, VW Leave a comment

Oh, sorry. Green energy already turned the lights off for you.

Germany in crisis: Intel and Volkswagen mull a multibillion-dollar withdrawal from the country.

For the first time in its 87-year history, Volkswagen is considering shutting down plants in Germany, where it employs around 300,000 people, as the company ramps up efforts to save €10 billion in costs…

Reuters reports that Intel will consider pausing or halting plans for its €30 billion ($33 billion) factory in the east German city of Magdeburg as the semiconductor manufacturer looks for cost savings. Germany had committed €9.9 billion ($10.9 billion) to the project when it was announced in June last year.

No More Wurst Puns

August 12, 2021 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Currywurst, Greens, Meat, Meatless, Vegans, Vegetarians, Volkswagen, Wurst Leave a comment

Because this really is the wurst-case scenario.

Is nothing sacred?

When Volkswagen dared to announce this week it will purge currywurst from the menu at one of its canteens in Wolfsburg and serve up meatless alternatives instead, a veritable online food fight broke out.

“Currywurst with French fries is one of the power bars of the skilled production worker. It should stay that way.”

$33 Billion And Counting

January 2, 2020 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: Cheating, Court Case, Courts, Crime, Customers, Dieselgate, Emissions, Fines, Fraud, German, Germans, Germany, Lawsuits, Trust, Volkswagen, VW Leave a comment

In fines. Up until now.

But would it matter if Volkswagen paid another 30+ billion to German customers too? Who would trust this company anymore, whatever they paid? What did Warren Buffet say? “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.”

VW to Sound Out Settlement in German Car-Owners’ Mass Lawsuit – Volkswagen AG and German consumer group VZBV agreed to settlement talks in a court case involving hundreds of thousands of drivers who claim that their diesel cars lost value in the wake of the emission-cheating scandal.

I’ll Go With “Systematic Issue”

June 6, 2019 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Bayer, Deutsche Bank, German, Germans, Germany, Industry, Volkswagen 1 Comment

Specifically, it’s a systematic decline caused by systematic dishonesty and corruption.

The simultaneous decline of Volkswagen, Deutsche Bank (DB), and Bayer has been nothing short of stunning. It raises the question as to whether it is merely coincidence, or if there is a larger systemic issue in play.

At Harvard’s 368th Commencement this past Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke of her life experiences growing up during the Cold War in post World War II Europe.

On this cool and overcast day, she also gave advice to the graduates on how to live their lives. She obliquely mentioned the trade war and indirectly criticized President Donald Trump — which got a round of applause. She even quoted the German poet, Hermann Hesse, saying “in all beginnings dwells a magic force for guarding us and helping us to live.”

There was one topic, however, that Merkel didn’t broach, perhaps not surprising given the celebratory nature of the day. Merkel made no mention of the economic dysfunction and even decay that seems to be infecting Germany — particularly when it comes to Germany’s largest and most prominent companies. The simultaneous decline of Volkswagen, Deutsche Bank (DB), and Bayer has been nothing short of stunning. It raises the question as to whether it is merely coincidence, or if there is a larger systemic issue in play. Either way, something is rotten in the state of Germany.

Car No Longer Manufactured Since 2003 Will No Longer Be Manufactured Again Next Year

September 14, 2018 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Hi-tech, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Automobiles, Beetle, Cars, German, Germans, Germany, Volkswagen, VW Leave a comment

The compact Beetle was introduced in Germany in 1938 during the Nazi era before becoming a symbol of Germany’s rebirth as a democratic, industrial powerhouse after the second World War.

It came to the US 11 years later, where it became a symbol of utilitarian transport for the postwar baby boom generation – often used by hippies.

The famous car sold for about 30 years before US sales stopped in 1979, through production continued continued production for Mexico and Latin America. The last of the original bugs was produced in Puebla, Mexico, in 2003.

VW Käfer wird bereits seit 2003 nicht mehr hergestellt.

I Know Nothing

July 27, 2018 By Hermann Observer in Habeas Corpus, Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: Crime, Dieselgate, German, Germans, Germany, Martin Winterkorn, Volkswagen, VW Leave a comment

Nothing!

Uh, yes you do. Former VW boss Martin Winterkorn has maintained from the start of the Dieselgate scandal that he knew nothing about the manipulative tricks going on in his company. But it’s now coming out that a high-ranking VW engineer who knows better is cooperating with the German prosecuting attorney’s office and spilling the beans on Winterkorn big time. This is going to cost VW a whole lot more than they figured on, I bet. Even the Germans are holding them responsible. Think of that. And it couldn’t have happened to a nicer bunch of guys. Talk about systematic criminal activity.

I mean, do these people really think they can get away with this stuff and nobody is ever going to squeal on them? I guess it’s too lonely up there at the top when you’re, well, on the top, in your little I know nothing dream world.

„Ich bin bestürzt über das, was in den vergangenen Tagen geschehen ist. Vor allem bin ich fassungslos, dass Verfehlungen dieser Tragweite im Volkswagen-Konzern möglich waren.”

Observing Hermann

“Was interessiert mich mein Geschwätz von gestern?”

Tag Archives: Volkswagen