The technological arm of the Volkswagen Group has given the automobile conglomerate many problems. So much so that they could once again delay the arrival of important electric models on the market. Months ago it was learned that the Volkswagen Group had an internal crisis in Cariad, the division in charge of technological development. This led to the delay of two of the most anticipated launches by the automobile conglomerate: the electric Porsche Macan and the Audi Q6 e-tron. After a few changes, it seemed like everything was going smoothly for them. Now, new information published by some media such as Manager Magazin or Reuters points to more inconveniences and a new delay in the arrival of both electric models.
In its latest action, the Volkswagen Group has announced the restructuring of Cariad. As part of this strategy, the company will cut a total of 2,000 jobs, something that will cause a chain reaction, such as the aforementioned delays in the arrival of the two electric SUVs to the market.
New problems for the Volkswagen Group
According to the German magazine Manager Magazin, it was the conglomerate’s own Board of Directors that approved the reduction of the workforce for a period between 2024 and 2025, although some could be delayed until the end of 2025, according to Reuters. The main reason for this will be the lack of progress in technological terms within the Volkswagen Group, something that they already pointed out as “unacceptable”, which led to the decision to restructure this division.
With this move, the 1.2 software architecture that should reach both the Audi Q6 e-tron and the electric Porsche Macan will be delayed by an additional 16 to 18 months. On the other hand, and in parallel, the next level 2.0 of this aforementioned architecture was already under development. The changes will lead to the latter being completely reviewed and remodeled. Initial plans placed it on the market for the year 2025, however, the delay will mean that it will not appear until around the year 2027.
This does not imply that the mentioned electric models have to wait until 2027 for their commercial start. The roadmap indicated that they would arrive in 2024 and that their software updated in 2025. However, now everything indicates that their arrival will be in 2025 and the update will be done after 2027.
On the other hand, it is not the only change that Cariad is carrying out, since they are also remodeling the new SSP platform on which some of the automotive group’s new electric vehicles will be based.
However, the aforementioned job cuts would still be subject to approval by the Works Council, which stated the following: “We do not accept this method of cutting jobs across the board. “There is no concrete information on where jobs should be reduced in terms of structure and tasks.”
The technological body of the Volkswagen Group has not stopped giving headaches to the company’s leadership practically since its creation by Herbert Diess, former CEO of the group. The reasons for the disagreement between the two are many. One of them is directly attributed to an excessive expenditure of money by Cariad without this having a direct benefit for the automobile group, something that the conglomerate’s board of directors would have already tired of.
