VW's Preferred Shares: A Boardroom Power Struggle Collides With a US Pickup Bet

Volkswagen accelerates US pickup plans and deepens job cuts to 100K as top shareholder Porsche SE pressures leadership amid historic crisis.

The pressure building on Volkswagen's leadership is no longer coming from just one direction. The company's dominant shareholder is demanding faster action on restructuring, its supervisory board is split over the scale of job cuts, and the North American business — long a weak spot — is being handed to a new executive with a mandate to finally crack the US pickup market.

Marco Schubert, currently on the Audi management board, is taking over Volkswagen's North American operations with immediate effect, replacing Kjell Gruner. The move is part of a broader shake-up of the sales division that is still being finalised at group level, according to the Manager Magazin. It coincides with a strategic commitment from the carmaker to bring a US-built pickup truck to market before the end of the decade, with a final decision expected in the coming weeks or months. A partnership with Ford is under consideration, with the vehicle potentially built on the Ranger platform — a similar approach to the existing Amarok. Production sites in Wayne, Michigan, or Chattanooga, Tennessee, are both in play. Volkswagen has floated pickup concepts before, showing the Atlas Tanoak in 2018 and the Tarok in 2019, but neither reached series production. The Scout brand, meanwhile, is being developed separately as a standalone unit for battery-electric vehicles.

The timing of the US push is no accident. Porsche SE, the holding company of the Porsche and Piëch families, controls 31.9 percent of Volkswagen's capital and 53.3 percent of its voting rights — and it is running out of patience. The holding posted a consolidated loss of €2.2 billion in the first half of 2026, swinging from a profit of around €0.3 billion a year earlier, driven by €3 billion in writedowns on its VW stake and a further €200 million on Porsche AG. Adjusted group earnings fell 14.5 percent to €949 million. Supervisory board chairman Hans Dieter Pötsch has described the situation as a "historic turning point" and warned that decisions can no longer be postponed. Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume put it more bluntly: "What we lack is time."

The numbers behind that urgency are stark. The company confirmed on Friday that job cuts could reach 100,000 — double the original plan — with Blume initially targeting a socially acceptable reduction of 50,000 positions and a further 50,000 potentially following. The works council warns that 140,000 jobs could ultimately be affected. Plants in Emden, Hanover, Zwickau and Neckarsulm are seen as uncertain, and up to four factories could be at risk. The model portfolio, currently spanning 150 vehicles across eight brands, is slated to be halved by 2030. The broader German automotive industry is shrinking too: more than 100,000 jobs have already disappeared since 2019, with a further 125,000 expected to go by 2035, according to the VDA industry association. Suppliers such as Bosch and ZF are also cutting staff heavily. Volkswagen's second-quarter sales slump of over 30 percent in China adds another layer of pressure.

The opposition is well-organised. Worker representatives and the state of Lower Saxony, which holds over 20 percent of voting rights, rejected Blume's plan at the supervisory board meeting in July. The union accuses the owner families of prioritising dividends over job security. The next supervisory board meeting is scheduled for early September, and it is there that Blume's course will likely be confirmed or blocked.

Amid the boardroom battle, the operating business offers at least one encouraging sign. Electric vehicle orders in Europe have jumped 50 percent, with roughly one in three vehicles now ordered being electric. The new compact family centred on the ID.Polo, along with sister models from Škoda and Cupra, has already attracted 70,000 pre-orders. If that momentum holds, a €500 million provision set aside for potential EU fines related to missed CO2 targets between 2025 and 2027 may not need to be used in full. The picture is less rosy in the US, where production of the ID.4 remains suspended following the removal of government EV subsidies. US demand has been volatile — falling more than 16 percent in the first quarter of 2026 before rebounding nearly 25 percent in the second.

The financial results reflect the strain of simultaneous restructuring and market transformation. Group revenue stagnated at €158 billion in the first half of 2026, while operating profit fell 12 percent to €5.9 billion.

Investors have responded with cautious optimism. The preferred shares closed Friday at €76.42, up 1.51 percent on the day, and have gained 1.89 percent over the week and 4.77 percent over the past 30 days. The stock has recovered roughly 10 percent from its summer 52-week low but remains just below its 50-day moving average of €78.19. Year-to-date, the shares are still down 26.63 percent — a reminder that while the market sees glimmers of progress, the structural problems at the heart of Volkswagen are far from resolved.