VW and Germany

choi

Bertrand Benoit and Stephen Wilmot, Germany's Problems Are VW's Problems As High Costs Rage. Wall Street Journal, Sept 12, 2024, at page A1.
https://www.wsj.com/business/aut ... theyre-not-d38dc012
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/ ... -re-not/ar-AA1qoUc8

Excerpt in the window of print: The carmaker and country suffer from high costs, reliance on China.

Note:
Note: The attached document shows the print version (shorter than the online one), where bold letters are addition to, and strikethroughs deleted from, the print version
(a) Kiel Institute for the World Economy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ki ... r_the_World_Economy
(1914- ; based in Kiel, Germany)
(b) "as it looks to rightsize its cost base"

rightsize (v; First Known Use 1989): "rightsize"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rightsize
(c) "Manufacturing accounts for a fifth of Germany's gross domestic product, about twice the US level, with a focus on capital goods and cars."

capital (economics)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_(economics)
("In economics, capital goods or capital are * * * machinery used in a factory")
(d) "A decade ago, the company [VW] recorded €5.2 billion, equivalent to around $5.7 billion, of operating profit from its Chinese joint ventures"

earnings before interest and taxes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earnings_before_interest_and_taxes
(EBIT; Operating income and operating profit are sometimes used as a synonym for EBIT)

In the Wiki page for EBIDTA, there is a table that explains the accounting.

(e) "according to the BDI Federation of German Industry * * * The problem is that a large part of this [R&D in Germany] is concentrated in the automotive sector.' "
(i)
(A) Federation of German Industries
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federation_of_German_Industries
(German: Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie (BDI))
(B) German-English dictionary:
* Bundesverband (noun masculine; "From [noun masculine; from verb binden bind] Bund [federation] +‎ -es- +‎ [noun masculine; from verb verbinden to join] Verband"): "federal association"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Bundesverband
* Industrie (noun feminine; "borrowed from French [noun feminine] industrie [diligence, industry], from [noun feminine] Latin industria [diligence, industry]"): "industry"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wborrowed from French industrie, from Latin industria.iki/Industrie
(ii) automotive industry
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automotive_industry