Volkswagen’s CEO indicated in comments published Sunday that he’s trying to avoid closing plants as he seeks to turn around the automaker’s performance.
The Wolfsburg, Germany-based company faces pressure to cut costs at home and increasingly intense competition in the lucrative Chinese market, in particular.
Last week, Volkswagen said its “fundamental realignment” over the past three years had reached its next phase, announcing plans to streamline the model lineup by up to half.
It didn’t provide specifics, and questions remain over how else it will cut costs. There has been renewed speculation about the future of several plants in Germany.
“There are more intelligent solutions than closing plants,” CEO Oliver Blume told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.
Trinidad and Tobago signs data center deal
Trinidad and Tobago has signed agreements paving the way for U.S. companies to begin groundwork for installing large data centers in the Caribbean nation, sparking concerns about potential energy consumption and environmental impacts.
The memorandums of understanding with the Florida-headquartered Hummingbird AI Holdings and New York-based Ernst and Young LLP were signed on Friday, according to a statement from the office of Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar. These are the first such agreements with a Caribbean country.
The deal with Ernst and Young LLP will set out the framework for collaboration on developing large-scale data centers, with the company planning to “partner with third parties in the development” of a 300 megawatt data center, the statement said.