VW's Preferred Shares Slide as Anchor Investor Demands Swift Resolution on Restructuring
Published on 08/12/2026 at 16:02 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
The clock is ticking in Wolfsburg. Porsche SE, Volkswagen's anchor shareholder, has made its position unmistakably clear: management must reach a quick agreement on job cuts and plant closures before the year is out. The intervention comes at a moment when the carmaker is simultaneously digesting weak half-year figures, a trimmed revenue outlook, and a restructuring package that has already hit resistance in the boardroom.
A Quarter That Exposed the Fault Lines
The second quarter painted a sobering picture. Group net profit fell 32.9 percent year-on-year to €1.54 billion, down from €2.29 billion in the same period of 2025. Vehicle deliveries slipped 8.6 percent to 2.08 million units, with China delivering the heaviest blow: sales there collapsed to 424,300 vehicles, a 26 percent drop. The operating result for the quarter came in at €3.5 billion, 9.5 percent below the prior-year level, though the first half as a whole still showed an operating profit of €3.6 billion, up 4.5 percent.
The guidance revision that followed on July 24 was equally telling. Volkswagen now expects full-year revenue to land anywhere between minus 3 percent and flat, having previously guided toward growth of 0 to 3 percent. The operating margin forecast of 4.0 to 5.5 percent remains untouched, as does the net cash flow target of €3 billion to €6 billion.
The first quarter had already offered a warning shot: group profit of €1.56 billion, down 28.4 percent, on revenue of €75.7 billion, a 2.5 percent contraction.
Audi Adds to the Headache
The core brand Audi has become a particular source of concern. On July 27, it slashed its revenue guidance for 2026 by roughly €5 billion, now targeting €58 billion to €63 billion instead of the range it had flagged in April. The operating margin expectation was also cut, to between 5 and 7 percent, with management pointing to constrained business in China and the US.
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Those two markets are proving stubbornly difficult for the wider group as well. The China delivery numbers, in particular, underscore how much ground Volkswagen has lost in what was once its most reliable growth engine.
The Battle Over "Zielbild 2030"
At the heart of the current standoff is the cost-cutting program known as "Zielbild 2030," first presented to the supervisory board in July. The plan calls for slimming the model lineup by up to 50 percent and reducing equipment variants by as much as 75 percent. Up to 50,000 additional jobs and four plants are on the line — Hannover, Zwickau and Emden on the Volkswagen side, plus Neckarsulm at Audi. Closures would coincide with the phase-out of the models built at those sites.
The path to approval has not been smooth. The supervisory board rejected an earlier version of the program on July 9, and reports from the research outlet Correctiv suggest management is considering an extraordinary general meeting to push the package through. The plan is expected to be resubmitted in September, with works meetings scheduled for late August. CEO Oliver Blume is aiming for adoption by year-end, and Porsche SE's Hans Dieter Pötsch has framed the moment as a historic turning point for the group.
Asset Sales and Product Bright Spots
Alongside the cost push, Volkswagen has been unlocking capital elsewhere. In late June, it signed an exclusive agreement with Bain Capital for the sale of a 51 percent stake in its engine subsidiary Everllence, a deal worth around €7.4 billion. Volkswagen will retain 49 percent, and the five German Everllence sites are guaranteed to remain open until at least 2030, with compulsory redundancies ruled out during that period. Porsche AG, the sports car subsidiary, has also moved: at the end of July it approved its own savings package that will cut 5,000 jobs in the Stuttgart region by 2035.
Not everything is grim. The new Electric Urban Car Family, which includes the ID.Polo, has drawn more than 70,000 orders in the first half of the year, and European EV orders are up 50 percent. Volkswagen has also launched pre-sales for new full-hybrid powertrains for the Golf and T-Roc in Germany, with the Golf Hybrid starting at €41,400.
What the Market Is Pricing In
Investors have responded with a notable lack of enthusiasm. The preferred shares were trading at €74.20, down 1.51 percent on the day, leaving the stock with a loss of 28.76 percent since the start of the year. The shares sit roughly 31 percent below their 52-week high of €109.10, reached in December, and about 2.86 percent under the 50-day moving average of €77.56.
Analysts have been trimming their targets. Berenberg cut its price objective from €113 to €100 after the quarterly numbers, while keeping a "Buy" rating. HSBC followed on July 28, lowering its target from €133 to €127, also with a "Buy" stance. Another house reduced its goal from €99 to €90 the day before, again maintaining a positive rating.
The central question for shareholders is whether Blume can steer the savings package through the supervisory board before the operational pressure from China, the US and Audi's struggles intensifies further. The year-end deadline gives management a firm timeline — and Porsche SE has made clear it expects that timeline to be met.
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