Tuesday, March 26

Volkswagen CEO: Risks for Factories Due to Russian Gas Stop

The German automaker Volkswagen is at risk with production at its factories if Russian gas supplies to Germany were suddenly stopped. That said CEO Herbert Diess to Bloomberg news agency at the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha.

 

He said that because Germany relied on Russian natural gas, the company will retain the option of running its power plants on coal instead of gas.

He stated that the transition in Germany to energy sources other than Russian gas is not proceeding fast enough and that major disruptions could therefore arise if Moscow suddenly turns off the gas tap. According to the CEO, it will take time to get liquefied natural gas (LNG) from other countries and build the infrastructure for it. Diess did say that he is convinced in the longer term that Germany can do without Russian gas.

The CEO further stated that the demand for cars is still strong, despite the war in Ukraine and the high inflation that affects the purchasing power of households. According to Diess, there are many orders for electric cars from Volkswagen and he is optimistic that the company can achieve its targets for this year. Volkswagen is engaged in fierce competition with, for example, Tesla in the electric car market.

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