Volkswagen's Preferred Shares Caught Between a Hard Cost-Cutting Push and a High-Stakes US Pivot
Published on 08/08/2026 at 03:32 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
Volkswagen's preferred stock closed the week with a modest bounce, yet the underlying picture remains grim: the shares are still down roughly 27 percent since the start of the year and sit nearly 30 percent below their December peak of EUR 109.10. Friday's session saw the stock add 1.04 percent to EUR 76.06, with a weekly gain of 1.41 percent and a 30-day advance of 4.28 percent. But the recovery has yet to translate into a broader trend — the shares remain below their 50-day moving average of EUR 78.18, a technical signal that investors are still waiting for concrete progress rather than promises.
The pressure to deliver that progress is coming from the top. Porsche SE, which holds a 31.9 percent stake in Volkswagen and controls 53.3 percent of voting rights, is pushing the Wolfsburg-based automaker to move faster against Chinese competition. The holding company's own financial pain explains the urgency: Porsche SE posted a net loss of EUR 2.2 billion in the first half of 2026, a dramatic swing from the EUR 300 million profit recorded a year earlier. The red ink stems largely from EUR 3 billion in writedowns on its VW stake and another EUR 200 million on Porsche AG. Adjusted group earnings fell to roughly EUR 900 million from EUR 1.1 billion, while net debt stood at nearly EUR 5 billion at the end of June — within the full-year guidance range of EUR 4.7 billion to EUR 5.2 billion.
Hans Dieter Pötsch, who chairs the supervisory boards of both Porsche SE and Volkswagen, has framed the moment as a "historic turning point." His warning is blunt: the longer decisions are delayed, the bigger the problems become. That message carries weight, given that CEO Oliver Blume's cost-reduction plan failed to clear the supervisory board at the end of June. The revised package, which Blume hopes to push through before year-end, could eliminate up to 50,000 additional jobs on top of existing programs — bringing the total potential reduction to as many as 100,000 positions — and put as many as four German plants at risk.
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Resistance is stiff. IG Metall has rejected any plant closures outright, and the state of Lower Saxony, which holds a 20 percent blocking minority, views the plans critically. With social partners and management dug in, the standoff has become the central question for investors: whether Blume can navigate the political and labor hurdles to secure approval for the cuts. Porsche SE's chief financial officer, Johannes Lattwein, has signaled full backing for the VW executive board, insisting there are "no taboos" when it comes to cost measures. At Porsche AG itself, the belt-tightening has already begun — 5,000 jobs in the Stuttgart region are slated to go by 2035, with site guarantees in place until then.
While the restructuring battle plays out at home, Volkswagen is simultaneously attempting a reset in the United States. Kjell Gruner is being replaced as head of the North America unit by Marco Schubert, the 52-year-old former Audi sales chief who has also held sales leadership roles at VW. The centerpiece of the new US strategy is a pickup truck built in America, slated to launch before the end of the decade — most likely at the Chattanooga, Tennessee plant, where production of the ID.4 electric model was previously halted. The segment is a massive opportunity: US pickup sales generate roughly USD 200 billion annually. Volkswagen has sold the Amarok pickup in other markets since 2010 but has never brought it to the US. The technical foundation could be the MEB platform or a partnership with Ford, with a final decision expected in the coming weeks or months. Scout-brand models are also planned to arrive from 2028.
The stakes in the US are considerable. Volkswagen's market share there stands at just 4 percent, and sales fell 13 percent in 2025. One analyst has gone so far as to suggest the company should exit the US market entirely. Schubert inherits a business where deliveries have been declining across both brands he previously oversaw — Audi down 7 percent in the first half, VW down more than 6 percent.
For shareholders, the two fronts are converging into a single narrative. At home, Blume must win over labor and the state government to push through deep cuts; in the US, a new leadership team must prove it can reclaim ground with an unproven pickup strategy. The recent share price recovery — 4.77 percent over the past month by one measure — suggests the market is giving management credit for its willingness to act. Whether that translates into a sustained rally will depend on the specifics: supervisory board approval for the savings package and tangible progress on the US product plan.
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