Raynald ROGER

  Europe’s carmakers are at a turning point — and so is European industry.   In my recent Financial Times OpEd, I argue that the challenges facing Volkswagen Group and other European OEMs go far beyond the industries’ transformation or trade-politics. They expose a deeper, long-standing issue: high cost and structural inefficiencies, making it even more challenging to adapt quickly to global competition. In fact, European carmaker‘s woes reflect an even deeper and tong term issue. The widening productivity gap between US and Europe‘s Economy with stark consequences.   For too long, we at Volkswagen believed growth could cover up inefficiencies. That belief is no longer tenable. At Volkswagen Group, we’re making tough but necessary changes — reducing overcapacity, increasing productivity both in terms of Labour and Capital, and we are accelerating investments in electrification, digitalization, and autonomous driving. One thing has become clear for us: investment alone is not enough.   What’s needed is structural reform — within companies and across Europe. That means: • Smarter, innovation-friendly regulation • More flexible labour markets • Strategic global partnerships • And a renewed focus on performance   And we need to demand more from ourselves. We know what made Europe strong in the first place. Now we need the courage to modernize those foundations. 📉 Without restructuring, even our best ideas risk and investments risk falling short 📈 With reform, Europe can once again lead — not just in R&D, but in scaling industrial innovation.   👉 Read the full article in the Financial Times https://lnkd.in/eVa-NEHK 👇 What do you think? What reforms do you believe are most urgent for Europe to remain competitive?   #automotive #Europe #Volkswagen #transformation

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Today we launched our very first battery generation: The Unified Cell - made in Europe. 🇪🇺 Kicked off at IAA MOBILITY, PowerCo‘s Unified Cell is ready to enter the market. It will make its debut with the Electric Urban Car Family of Volkswagen, Škoda Auto and CUPRA. In combination with the new Cell-to-Pack battery system, it will set new benchmarks in the small car segment in terms of range, performance and efficiency. 👉 Why it matters: While the EV market is gaining speed and more and more models are being launched, battery cells remain a white spot for Europe‘s automotive industry. PowerCo enters the market in a crucial moment, adding know-how and expertise in a key technology of the 21st century. #IAAMobility #TechDriver

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It's official: Markus Haupt confirmed as Chief Executive Officer of SEAT and CUPRA after serving as interim CEO since April.      Haupt began his career at SEAT back in 2001, and quickly advanced, gaining over 20 years of experience within the Volkswagen Group, where he held leadership roles in different locations and positions. 🔝     A driver of change, since joining the company in 2022 as Executive Vice-President for Production and Logistics, he has overseen a €3 billion investment to electrify the Martorell plant and has led the Electric Urban Car family project, including the #CUPRARaval, set to launch in March 2026.  ⚡️     📢 Thomas Schäfer, Chair of the SEAT & CUPRA Supervisory Board: “Having successfully led the transformation of SEAT and CUPRA’s facilities in preparation for the Electric Urban Car family, Haupt is perfectly positioned to shape the brands’ future”.      The announcement comes at a crucial moment for SEAT S.A.:     🚀 CUPRA continues to grow as a key pillar for the company, now with a fully-fledged portfolio and a growing global fanbase. In this sense, following its ambition to become one of Spain’s truly global brands, it is investigating new growth opportunities in the Middle East.     🙌🏼 Along with CUPRA, the SEAT brand remains a cornerstone of the company’s present and future strategy. With over 21 million vehicles produced since 1950, it is now poised to enter a new era in its history with the upcoming World Premiere of its bestselling models, the SEAT Ibiza and Arona. 

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At IAA MOBILITY 2025, MOIA and the Volkswagen Group showcase how autonomous, shared mobility is becoming reality, accompanied by exclusive interviews with Sascha Meyer, CEO MOIA, and Christian Senger, CEO Volkswagen Autonomous Mobility. The ID. Buzz AD demonstrates what Tech for the People means: smart, safe and sustainable mobility that is accessible to everyone. 🌍 Autonomous shared mobility helps reduce traffic and emissions, supporting our mission of sustainable mobility for all. 👥 As part of the Volkswagen Group, MOIA develops an autonomous turnkey solution that combines autonomous vehicles, software and services for implementation and enables cities, operators and mobility companies to integrate autonomous services into their transport system. 👉 Visit the Volkswagen Group stand to discover how we are shaping the future of mobility — from Europe, for Europe. #VolkswagenGroup #MOIA #AutonomousDriving #SharedRides #UrbanMobility #TechForThePeople

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I am just returning from the IAA MOBILITY Munich, where we were invited by our partners at AUDI AG to an evening event organised around their new car model. For AUDI AG this is not just a new release, this is a new beginning, the first expression of a new design philosophy, expressed as: Radical Simplicity, Clarity. To me, this feels just right. The car’s exterior design is very pure, reminescent of Audi’s roots but also very modern. But the boldest expression of AUDI AG’s new philosophy is inside the car. Instead of playing the race towards an ever larger screen in the cabin, AUDI AG decided to embed a rather small screen, which folds and disappears under the dashboard. From a positioning point of view, the focus on simplicity and clarity is exactly what I think we need. With the AI era, the value for OEMs, across industries, will not be in providing more content, but filtering content to optimize the cognitive load on the users. AI also gives the opportunity to provide much more naturally the exact information that the passenger needs at any moment, not more. This is also how Neural Concept envisions user experience. In our collaboration with AUDI AG, we hope that this software experience philosophy, into the hands of engineers, will then translate into the right experience for the consumer. Picture with Marwan Khiat who was lead designer on the interior of the car.

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