German automobile manufacturer Volkswagen is ready to start producing military equipment, the concern CEO Oliver Blume stated and said he was open to discussions with potential partners, The Telegraph reports.
Car exports have significantly decreased, he noted, and the plants run below 100% capacity, while the German defense industry enjoys incentives for growth without budgetary restrictions under the EU ReArm Europe plan, thus the shift in policy. When it comes to Volkswagen's capacity, it's about an industrial giant with over €320 billion of annual income and more than 660,000 employees at over 130 manufacturing plants worldwide.
Read more: ReArm Europe: How Much EU's Plan Can Really Boost the Continent's Defense Capability, Ukraine Included
On a note from Defense Express, Volkswagen is, in fact, already in the defense business, albeit its current presence doesn't compare to the volumes of its civilian products. The entire concern owns the Traton Group (formerly Volkswagen Truck & Bus AG), which in turn owns the well-known MAN. The latter has a joint venture with Rheinmetall, named Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles, which manufactures and supplies HX series military trucks to the German army.
For a reminder, the same decline in demand for cars made Rheinmetall commit to diversifying two of its factories that used to produce car parts into weapons and ammunition foundry. To understand how much the automotive industry has slumped over the past five years in the EU alone, the number of new cars sold fell from 15.1 million to 10.6 million cars, The Telegraph notes citing European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.
At this stage, Volkswagen only evaluates the concepts of shifting to the military sphere, there are no specific plans or decisions yet about making definite types of weapons or military equipment. Moreover, Blume said, "this is just open-ended and the initiatives will be brought forward by the defence industry more than anything."
So it's obvious that Volkswagen is not going to become the ultimate defense powerhouse just yet, develop its own tanks, self-propelled artillery, aircraft, or anything. Rather, his stance indicates that the company is ready to produce components for weapons. If that's the case, the fields closest to Volkswagen would be armored and automotive products.
In particular, armored personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles, tanks need engines and transmissions, which Volkswagen will definitely be able to offer. They also need axles, suspensions, fuel and power supply systems, generators and much, much more, which Volkswagen can make with the available has manufacturing equipment and qualified personnel.
Through cooperation with such a supplier, prime contractors can achieve a fairly rapid increase in their production of finished weapons and military equipment. But this, of course, depends on the availability of appropriate financial resources to pay for expanded orders, as well as, oddly enough, the will of defense companies to delegate their competencies to another player.
Read more: Rheinmetall Will Diversify Two Car Component Plants for Weapons and Ammunition Production
