Final Word from Tuesday, December 19, 2023
The German media have been talking for months about a €10bn cost-cutting program at Volkswagen that includes layoffs, and Czech labor leader Jaroslav Povšík of Škoda Auto started warning in Sept. that it could affect Czech jobs too. One of the main issues is lower-than-expected sales of e-vehicles (EVs), and that was even before the generous EV subsidies in Germany ended this week. While the Czech cabinet was putting all its effort into attracting a VW gigafactory, VW was already making plans to downsize its EV output. The CR is now in the position of losing production of regular Superbs and Octavias to Bratislava - to make room for EVs that might not be produced in the expected numbers. Didn't Petr Fiala and Jozef Síkela get wind of this when they met in Prague on Oct. 30 with VW Chair Oliver Blume? Investor Warren Buffett famously said that, "You don't find out who's been swimming naked until the tide goes out." We'll soon find out if the CR is the naked man of Europe. [ Czech Republic Die Welt sick man of Europe electric electromobiles ]
Glossary of difficult words
layoff - a temporary or permanent discharge of a worker or workers;
to downsize - to lower staffing or production of a company;
to get wind of - to begin to suspect that (something) is happening;
tide - the alternate rising and falling of the sea;
the naked man of Europe - an allusion to a recent statement by Die Welt that the CR is the "sick man of Europe."