Volkswagen Will Eliminate Almost Half of Production Brands After Losing Market Share to China

Conservative Treehouse ^ | July 10, 2026 | Sundance

[Red Badger]

The European auto industry is a case study on how short-sighted trade policy goals, results in consequences.

Previously, German auto companies like Volkswagen entered into trade agreements with China and began manufacturing their vehicles with immediate financial success in the market. However, it did not take long for Chinese auto companies to reverse the engineering and begin to deliver the same quality vehicles at much lower prices.

The Chinese then stop purchasing the Volkswagen vehicles and purchase the cheaper version, while simultaneously begin exporting those same vehicles into the home market from where the technology originated.

Today, with a double-digit decline in production, Volkswagen announces they will cut almost half of their brands due to diminished sales.

BLOOMBERG – BERLIN — Volkswagen reported weak sales numbers on Friday, a day after the giant German automaker announced plans to slash the number of models by nearly half as sales plunged, particularly in China.

The Wolfsburg, Germany-based company said group sales fell 8.6 per cent in the second quarter to just under 2.1 million vehicles, with sales in China alone plummeted by more than one-third.

After a board meeting on Thursday, Volkswagen said its “fundamental realignment” over the last three years had reached its next phase, announcing plans to streamline the model lineup by up to half, without providing specifics.

CEO Oliver Blume laid out plans to make VW faster and more competitive through less complexity, focused technologies, better alignment across regional markets and reduction of overcapacities, among other things, citing an “increasingly demanding environment.”

Among its main brands, the core Volkswagen unit saw deliveries of slightly over 1 million vehicles in the second quarter, a drop of 14 per cent from a year earlier. Deliveries at Audi declined 8 per cent and those at Porsche fell 18 per cent. (read more)

Maybe Canada will take note, likely they will not.

The only way to avoid this issue is to protect the domestic market. As soon as you open your market to this claimed reciprocity (panda face), it will not take long until the mask drops, and you notice the dragon face behind it.

[Dr. Sivana]

But, because the replacement/aftermarket auto parts market has also been decimated, keeping your old car running is getting tougher too.

That is a problem. There might be three choices for aftermarket alternator, all of them substandard. There are some interchange guides, and some creative hacks. So, for instance, when I owned my 1965 Chrysler 300 two-door hardtop C-Body, parts were very hard to find, because they weren't muscle cars. However, enthusiasts machined a simple part to allow use of GM pick up truck motor mounts to hold up the big 383ci engine. If you are not bent on keeping things all original, you can do a lot (though plopping a GM 350 in the "wrong" car would be sacrilege to some). It all depends on what you want the old car for. For everyday drivers that are not TOO old to easily maintain due to parts availability, but also don't have TOO many electronics, I would lean towards 1990s GM 3.8l drivetrain or the 350 ci B-Bodies (Roadmaster, Caprice, Impala). Be aware that some of those have a hard to replace optical distributor.

Money helps, but the knowledge of the older cars is fading. I was describing my frustration with not having an alternator gauge in my vehicles, and he downplayed their usefulness. He was knowldedgeable, but he had confused the old GM GENERATOR gauges (of minimal usefulness) for the Chrysler ALTERNATOR gauges that I described.

[Romans Nine]

Hahaha…….

You hit all the marks with those comments!

My reprobate 79 year old father in law drives around in a new mid engine Corvette. He couldn’t care less about anything other than asking waitresses if they want to ride in his car. He thinks he is some kind of Duke of Sedalia Missouri. He was never a “car guy” and has no idea why GM even built a mid engine Corvette. He smokes in it and it has mail scattered all over the dash and passenger seat. It is one of the most pathetic displays I’ve ever seen.

[algore]

none of my cars have ever had a problem with a Touch Screen.

and I know for a fact that they never will.

[GingisK]

Can you spot the model differences through the years?

[real saxophonist]

Count the VW Beetles during the Bullitt car chase.

One.

[WhiteHatBobby0701]

“Chinese Communist Party strategy is rob, replicate, replace” — Maria Bartiromo.

That’s what you see. That’s why my state legislator had no problem with China when I knew the strategy.

[Billthedrill]

I wanted one. The only car on the market made entirely of rust. 0-60 in only 23 seconds. From the AI:

Owners reported issues such as weak reverse gears, broken accelerator cables, rubber brake line failures, and improperly fitted constant velocity joints that could cause axle separation.

But no touch-screens, so there's that.

[Oystir]

I had a similar Saab. I put wood trim, like in the second picture, inside the dash frame. It looked great.

[frank ballenger]

No.

Had a pal in 1966 who had one and could tell by vents, lights and so on for models later on.

I had a Renault Dauphine 1964-1968 with so many problems day after day with it that I had no time to learn other cars. Once a little hole blew through the side of the white ceramic housing of a spark plug. Mechanic had never seen that happen before. And the replacement for the heater failure took 2 months to arrive from France-—no warehouse in US—before the official business system of “just in time” manufacturing we suffer through now. The $70 part then would be $697.66 before labor. Couldn’t afford it then as a college student but had to have it in cold Michigan.

[GingisK]

Foreign cars are a blast, so to speak. My 1963 VW Beetle and I were always mystified with each other. I loved the way it shifted. Perfect ratios for each gear.

[trebb]

Yep - I hate the touchscreens - the one thing I liked about the Mercedes cars is that they had the
“mouse”-like control so you could, with your hand comfortably on the console, move and click on items w/o having to reach over to the screen and try to hit the right spot.- also kept fingerprints off the screen. I know a lot of the screens have issues, but my point was that Mercedes denied there was an issue - until the warranty lapsed, then they’d gladly charge you an arm/leg/first child to fix it. You expect more from what is considered a ‘premium’ brand of car - even low-mid level models.
And you are spot on about costs of service/repair - they charge more than twice what the Toyota costs for a full service - even the cabin filter is put in so it takes over an hour to take things apart to get to it.