WLTP costs Volkswagen billions

A German newspaper has claimed the task of bringing Volkswagen’s cars into line with Europe’s new Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Protocol (WLTP) emissions rules cost the company €3.6 billion ($A5.8 billion) last year.

Braunschweiger Zeitung is from Braunschweig (Brunswick), the closest major city to Volkswagen’s Wolfsburg headquarters and the WLTP losses were predicted here last August.

Between the sales it lost in the last quarter of 2018 due to being unable to compete with a full model lineup in every category and the resources used to belatedly certify its cars, Volkswagen lost enough money to bring most companies to their knees.

In fact, that is exactly what has happened at Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), which also lost about the same amount of money in the final quarter of 2018.

While JLR’s loss has seen its long-term viability called into question over its worst ever single-quarter loss, Volkswagen has simply been rebuked by works council (union) head Bernd Osterloh.

“It cannot be that billions are wasted, and this has no consequences,” Osterloh said in an interview with Braunschweiger Zeitung.

JLR’s loss, on the other hand, has it on schedule to run out of cash in about a year without additional outside investment.

During this week’s Geneva motor show, sources at JLR admitted the group’s problems stemmed from the poor sales performance of its XE, XF and XJ sedans, the slump of both brands in China and the lack of acceptance of the Land Rover Discovery’s controversial styling.