Why Volkswagen's unique history could cause its downfall | Business Beyond

Volkswagen, Europe’s biggest car maker, is in crisis. A shrinking European market, more competition in China and slow electric vehicle uptake mean VW must cut costs. But Volkswagen functions differently from any other car maker in the world. It’s not just VW’s management that has the final say, but also its workers. In this episode of Business Beyond, we look at Volkswagen’s unique governance structure and what it means for the car maker’s ability to react to challenges. For more from the experts we spoke to: Clemens Fuest, ifo Institute https://commission.europa.eu/persons/clemens-fuest_en Carsten Brzeski, ING Germany https://think.ing.com/author/carsten-brzeski/ Martin Murphy, Handelsblatt https://www.handelsblatt.com/autoren/martin-murphy/1986538.html Matthias Schmidt, European Automotive Market Intelligence https://www.schmidtmatthias.de/ Jens Dralle, Auto Motor und Sport https://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/autor/jens-dralle/ #Businessbeyond #volkswagen #electricvehicles Chapters: 00:00 Intro 02:09 Volkswagen’s unique structure 04:50 How did we get here? 08:42 Volkswagen’s cost problem 11:56 Volkswagen’s path forward? For more news go to: http://www.dw.com/en/ For more news, analysis and background information on the German election 2025 go to our dedicated page: https://www.dw.com/en/german-election-2025/t-70794502 Follow DW on social media: ►Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dwnews ►TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@dwnews ►Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/deutschewellenews/ ►Twitter: https://twitter.com/dwnews Für Videos in deutscher Sprache besuchen Sie: https://www.youtube.com/dwdeutsch Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/user/deutschewelleenglish?sub_confirmation=1