VW to face investor grilling on costs, China, at capital markets day

Volkswagen Group will face investors hungry for answers at its capital markets day next Wednesday on how it will achieve high cost-cutting targets and whether it will heed their calls for an independent audit of its co-owned Xinjiang plant in China.

Pressure is high after a turbulent shareholder meeting in May where activists interrupted proceedings with protests against the automaker’s jointly owned plant in Urumqi, Xinjiang, and investors grilled executives on their plans to take on Chinese competition in electric vehicles.

“The 21 June CMD is an opportunity to reset a fraught relationship with investors, a challenging exercise,” Jefferies wrote in a note on Friday.

VW has invited investors to the Porsche Experience Center at a racetrack in southwest Germany to test-drive its cars, hear presentations on its brands and get an updated financial strategy from VW Group CEO Oliver Blume and CFO Arno Antlitz.

The Porsche-Piech family, who own 31.9 percent of Volkswagen, are expecting Blume to begin replicating his success from Porsche at VW Group, a source close to the families said, with the caveat that a multi-brand group cannot achieve the same margins as a luxury player.

Stellantis, BYD benchmarks

One source close to the company said Stellantis, which has a similar number of brands as VW Group but higher margins, was viewed by some as a benchmark, as well as fast growing Chinese EV giants such as BYD.

Investors also demanded that VW conduct an independent audit of the Urumqi plant, which executives have said is only possible with the agreement of joint venture partner SAIC. Two investors, who declined to be named, said they expect the topic to come up again on Wednesday.

Alongside targets, investors needed details on how the automaker expects to make its EV production more cost-effective, Daniel Roeska of Bernstein Research wrote in a note on Thursday.

“The risk is that instead we see more punchy earnings and volume targets, with little to support them,” he added.