The German automobile giant found itself in an unusual situation – instead of cars, record numbers come from the food sector. With 8,5 million servings of currywurst sold, Volkswagen surpassed its own car sales
German automotive giant announced that he sold a record number last year sausage. At the same time, car sales are falling. Those two pieces of news testify to the popularity of currywurst and the crisis of the most important branch of German industry, he writes DW.
Currywurst is a cult street food in Germany - a sausage with a special ketchup and lots of curry. Onions and French fries go well with it.
Currywurst is just as legendary in the workers' canteens of the automobile giant Volkswagen. Something like the meatballs from the restaurant in Ikea. It's no wonder that Volkswagen has long since started selling sausage in supermarkets.
However, the news sounds bizarre - Volkswagen sold more sausages than cars last year. This speaks to the popularity of their currywurst, but also to the crisis of the German automobile industry.
As it was announced, last year the concern from Wolfsburg sold 8,5 million portions of sausage in about thirty canteens and kiosks, as well as in supermarkets. That is about two hundred thousand more than in 2023, which was also a record year.
To be fair, it's not all currywurst. The record is attributed to the fact that a hot dog from the production of Volkswagen was added to the palette a couple of years ago.
At the same time, only 5,2 million vehicles with the Volkswagen logo were sold last year.
If it is a consolation, when all the brands belonging to the concern are counted - say Škoda, SEAT, Audi, Porsche, Lamborghini - nine million units were sold, which is still more than the number of sausages. But that figure also fell by 2,3 percent compared to the previous year.
Sharp drop in profits
At the same time, it was announced that Volkswagen earned 12,4 billion euros last year, which for them is a scandalous drop of 30 percent. Even though the total turnover increased to 345 billion.
The reason for the drop in profits is the sharp decline in the Chinese market, as well as large investments, for example in the new Audi factory in Brussels.
For now, employees under the collective agreement can be happy that they still receive bonuses for last year, 4.800 euros each. It benefits about 120.000 employees in Germany.
Somehow, even the heads of the concern will survive with millions of salaries, who, according to the dpa agency, are giving up about eleven percent of their income for this year and next.
The troubles are yet to come, since Volkswagen announced at the end of last year, amid great protests by employees and politicians, that it would eliminate 2030 jobs in Germany by 35.000. It is the first time in history that the auto giant has laid off people.
It is at the same time a guild of retardation of the German auto industry, which is still the export engine of the entire economy. But the competition is getting stronger, especially in the field of electric cars, and global business is also suffering because of the customs wars that are now again being initiated by Donald Trump.
Don't worry about the currywurst.
As for the sausage, everyone can sleep peacefully. It has been announced that Volkswagen plans to introduce new varieties of sausages in canteens and supermarkets, mainly in Lower Saxony, the province where Wolfsburg is located.
After all, it's no longer a joke. When they withdrew currywurst from one of their dozens of canteens a couple of years ago, there was a lot of media dust. Even former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who always presented himself as a man of the people, came forward to remind us that the sausage is "a worker's chocolate bar for strength".
Volkswagen started producing currywurst back in 1973. It is produced by a butcher founded by the concern. Currywurst even has a production number, like every car part. That number is 199 398 500 A.
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