By Jan Schwartz

HAMBURG, (Reuters) – Volkswagen (DE) CEO Herbert Diess is currently under intense fire from unions about his strategy. He spoke up at a manager meeting to discuss the five-year plan for investment, which includes the future of the Wolfsburg facility.

A copy of Diess’s speech at a meeting last week that Reuters has seen, states that he said negotiations were progressing well with unions and praised the company for its achievements in everything, from beating U.S. rivals on autonomous driving, to boosting China sales.

VW had escaped the worst supply chain crisis this year that has impacted production, he said, adding volumes are starting to increase and the outlook for next year improving.

Diess claimed that Premium Brands were almost out of stock next year, and that order books were fully filled – a brighter outlook than the company’s third-quarter results one month ago. https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/volkswagen-cuts-deliveries-outlook-chip-crisis-bites-2021-10-28

According to the CEO, you can tell that I am happy because of the progress we made in the last weeks.

The position of Diess at the head of Europe’s largest automaker is currently hanging by a thin thread due to tensions around his management style, and his electrification strategy.

The Volkswagen supervisory board is meeting next Thursday in order to discuss a five year investment plan.

However, the uncertainty surrounding Diess’s position as well as disagreements about the future of Wolfsburg have clouded the preparations for the meeting. Workers fear that the plant will be left behind when it transitions to electric cars.

Two sources familiar with negotiations said that Diess’ decision about whether she will remain or go by this week is likely. The latest round of talks on the subject took place over the weekend.

Management and the Works Council were discussing the possibility of assembling an electric ID.3 model at Wolfsburg – Diess stated that it could make “certainly sense” to do so.

He promised that the plant would be unrecognizable by 2030. There are changes in progress to make it more competitive to Gruenheide. Tesla (NASDAQ) has a giant electric vehicle factory within hours. This could start up in December, subject approval.

Diess issued numerous warnings in recent weeks about Tesla’s efficiency and speed, as well as concerns that Volkswagen will be catching up to Tesla. Diess expressed fear that Tesla would soon lose its advantage on its home turf.