Volkswagen weighs plan to sell or find partner for Italdesign
MILAN: Volkswagen is considering a plan to divest from its design and engineering unit Italdesign, union representatives told Reuters on Monday, as part of the German automaker's efforts to overhaul its European operations.
The group is assessing a possible sale of Turin-based Italdesign, but it could also consider alternative options, including finding a partner for it, representatives of the Fiom and FIM Cisl unions said after a meeting with Italdesign management earlier on Monday.
Volkswagen, which fully owns Italdesign through its premium Audi unit, is under pressure from increasing competition and a lacklustre European car market.
A spokesperson for Audi said it 'continuously reviews its strategic alignment, including its holdings'.
Italdesign employs some 1,350 people, including 1,100 in the northern Italian city of Turin, and generated turnover of 332 million euros ($374 million)last year.
Volkswagen has received preliminary expressions of interest from four or five counterparts, the union representatives said, adding the German company was not willing, at least for now, to consider offers from competitors or financial groups.
Volkswagen says trade tensions, EV costs to weigh on profits
'The management confirmed in the meeting that Audi is assessing a possible sale of Italdesign,' Gianni Mannori of Fiom union told Reuters, adding Italdesign management has been tasked to find buyers.
The whole process could take a few months, Mannori said, adding that Italdesign is a profitable business.
Rocco Cutrì, the head of FIM Cisl union in Turin, said Audi was running a preliminary due diligence process at Italdesign, to prepare the unit for the plan.
Italdesign was founded in 1968 by Giorgetto Giugiaro, one of the world's most influential car designers, who sold it to Volkswagen in 2010. The German group took the full ownership in 2015.
Over its history, Italdesign created models for several brands including Volkswagen Golf, Fiat Grande Punto, Alfa Romeo 159 and, more recently, Audi Q2 compact SUV.
Volkswagen announced sweeping changes to its German operations in December, including job cuts and sharp capacity reductions. Measures included the end of production of Volkswagen-branded cars in Dresden and Osnabrueck, while the company is exploring alternative uses for the plants.
Audi has already closed its plant in Brussels after the search for a buyer ended without success.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Recorder
7 hours ago
- Business Recorder
ECB can take time on policy, policymaker Nagel says
FRANKFURT: The European Central Bank can take its time on interest rates with monetary policy now set at a neutral level that is no longer restrictive, ECB policymaker Joachim Nagel said on German radio on Sunday. The ECB cut interest rates on Thursday for the eighth time in a year but signalled at least a policy pause next month after inflation returned to its 2% target. Nagel, who is also the president of Germany's central bank, said rates are now at a neutral level - central-banker language to describe policy that neither expands nor brakes the economy. ECB should not 'overreact' if inflation edges below 2%, Vujcic says 'We are no longer restrictive. I believe that we can now take the time to look at the situation first. We now have maximum flexibility at this interest rate level,' Nagel said in a live interview on Deutschlandfunk radio. The ECB has lowered borrowing costs eight times, or by 2 percentage points since last June, seeking to prop up a euro zone economy that was struggling even before erratic U.S. economic and trade policies dealt it further blows.
Express Tribune
a day ago
- Express Tribune
US Supreme Court grants DOGE access to sensitive social security data
The U.S. Supreme Court building is seen the morning before justices are expected to issue opinions in pending cases, in Washington, U.S., June 14, 2024. Photo:REUTERS Listen to article The US Supreme Court granted on Friday the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a key player in President Donald Trump's drive to slash the federal workforce, broad access to personal information on millions of Americans in Social Security Administration data systems while a legal challenge plays out. On the request of the Justice Department, the judiciary had put on hold Maryland-based US District Judge Ellen Hollander's order that had largely blocked DOGE's access to "personally identifiable information" in data such as medical and financial records while litigation proceeds in a lower court. Hollander found that allowing DOGE unfettered access likely would violate a federal privacy law. The top court's brief, unsigned order did not provide a rationale for siding with DOGE. BREAKING: The Supreme Court grants DOGE affiliates access to Social Security Administration records. Justices Kagan, Sotomayor, and Jackson would deny the request. — SCOTUSblog (@SCOTUSblog) June 6, 2025 The court has a 6-3 conservative majority. Its three liberal justices dissented from the order. Liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, in a dissent that was joined by fellow liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor, criticized the court's majority for granting DOGE "unfettered data access" despite the administration's "failure to show any need or any interest in complying with existing privacy safeguards." In a separate order on Friday, the Supreme Court extended its block on judicial orders requiring DOGE to turn over records to a government watchdog group that sought details on the entity established by US President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk. DOGE swept through federal agencies as part of the Republican president's effort, spearheaded by Musk, to eliminate federal jobs, downsize and reshape the US government and root out what they see as wasteful spending. Musk formally ended his government work on May 30. Two labor unions and an advocacy group filed suits to prevent DOGE from accessing sensitive data at the Social Security Administration (SSA), including social security numbers, bank account data, tax information, earnings history and immigration records. The agency is a major provider of government benefits, sending checks each month to more than 70 million recipients including retirees and disabled Americans. Democracy Forward, a liberal legal group that represented the plaintiffs, said Friday's order would put millions of Americans' data at risk. "Elon Musk may have left Washington DC, but his impact continues to harm millions of people," the group said in a statement. "We will continue to use every legal tool at our disposal to keep unelected bureaucrats from misusing the public's most sensitive data as this case moves forward." In their lawsuit, the plaintiffs argued that SSA had been "ransacked" and that DOGE members had been installed without proper vetting or training. They demanded access to some of the agency's most sensitive data systems. Hollander in an April 17 ruling found that DOGE had failed to explain why its stated mission required "unprecedented, unfettered access to virtually SSA's entire data systems". "For some 90 years, SSA has been guided by the foundational principle of an expectation of privacy with respect to its records," Hollander wrote. "This case exposes a wide fissure in the foundation." Hollander issued a preliminary injunction that prohibited DOGE staffers and anyone working with them from accessing data containing personal information, with only narrow exceptions. The judge's ruling did allow DOGE affiliates to access data that had been stripped of private information as long as those seeking access had gone through the proper training and passed background checks. Hollander also ordered DOGE affiliates to "disgorge and delete" any personal information already in their possession. The Richmond, Virginia-based 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals in a 9-6 vote declined on April 30 to pause Hollander's block on DOGE's unlimited access to Social Security Administration records. Justice department lawyers in their Supreme Court filing characterized Hollander's order as judicial overreach. "The district court is forcing the executive branch to stop employees charged with modernizing government information systems from accessing the data in those systems because, in the court's judgment, those employees do not 'need' such access," they wrote. The six dissenting judges wrote that the case should have been treated the same as one in which 4th Circuit panel ruled 2-1 to allow DOGE to access data at the US Treasury and Education Departments and the Office of Personnel Management. In a concurring opinion, seven judges who ruled against DOGE wrote that the case involving Social Security data was "substantially stronger" with "vastly greater stakes," citing "detailed and profoundly sensitive Social Security records," such as family court and school records of children, mental health treatment records and credit card information.
Business Recorder
2 days ago
- Business Recorder
Trump commends ‘very strong' Pakistan leadership
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has once again projected his role in de-escalating the recent Pakistan-India conflict while commending the 'very strong' leadership in Islamabad. Speaking at a White House event alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, President Trump recounted how Pakistan-India tensions were 'getting close to being out of hand,' and said he intervened by speaking directly to leaders on both sides. Trump again said he felt proud of brokering a ceasefire between Pakistan and India. He said that he told both countries that if bullets are fired, there will be no trade, adding Pakistan has very strong leadership.
