Volkswagen AG\u2019s push to cut costs<\/a> is spilling over to truck maker Traton SE, where the German company is also preparing to reduce a majority stake currently worth 16.6 billion euros ($19.1 billion).<\/p>\n\u201cWe feel increased pressure to be incredibly careful with money, with costs, with investments,\u201d Traton CEO Christian Levin said in an interview. \u201cThat pressure has increased, I can say, from the main owner.\u201d\n \t \t\t<\/p>\n
Europe\u2019s biggest carmaker, which holds 87.5% in the Scania and MAN manufacturer, is stepping up a broad plan to squeeze savings after falling behind the competition, led by cratering sales in China. Last month, VW outlined a focus on \u201cits automotive core business,\u201d and said the company would seek to shed some assets to slim down and boost funds.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That month, the owner of the Porsche and VW brands reiterated its goal to bring down the Traton holding to 75% plus one share to retain control. Levin said a larger free float would help attract more investors and boost the likelihood of Traton\u2019s shares to better reflect the company\u2019s performance.\n \t\t<\/p>\n
Traton shares declined 1.1% as 10:53 a.m. in Frankfurt. The stock is up around a fifth this year.<\/p>\n
The prospect of a wider shareholder base has particular resonance in Sweden, where Traton\u2019s premium Scania truck brand is based. Entities belonging to the country\u2019s\u00a0Wallenberg billionaire family, including Investor AB, sold their remaining holdings to Volkswagen in 2008, after a prolonged ownership battle left Investor facing the prospect of being a minority shareholder under Volkswagen\u2019s control.<\/p>\n
Currently, SEB Funds \u2014 part of SEB, whose largest shareholder is Wallenberg-linked Investor AB \u2014 is Traton\u2019s second-largest disclosed shareholder, with a stake of just over 3%.<\/p>\n
A broader shareholder base could also bring additional expertise, Levin said. More active owners, including private equity firms, can contribute in areas such as technology development and artificial intelligence, he said, adding he\u2019s not involved in Volkswagen\u2019s process to reduce the holding.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe broader, the better,\u201d Levin said. \u201cGeographically, with different competence backgrounds, with different time perspectives.\u201d<\/p>\n
VW listed Traton, which today also comprises North American truck maker International, formerly Navistar, in 2019. While notable for showing that the sprawling VW group could pull off such a sale, the listing was underwhelming due to its small size and priced at the bottom of its targeted range.<\/p>\n
In March 2025, VW\u00a0sold\u00a0another 2.2% for about 360 million euros, reducing its holding to today\u2019s level to boost the ee float and trading liquidity.<\/p>\n
Volkswagen\u2019s sweeping overhaul comes as CEO Oliver Blume sees the group\u2019s overhead costs roughly 20% higher than competitors\u2019. An initial plan that weighed doubling job cuts to about 100,000 positions ran into fierce opposition from labor representatives. Talks on savings are set to resume in coming weeks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The pressure is prompting VW to scrutinize its sprawling portfolio. The group, which has stakes in more than 2,000 businesses, agreed in June to sell 51% of its Everllence ship-engine unit <\/a>in a transaction expected to generate about 7.4 billion euros. Blume has described the portfolio as an \u201cimportant area for change.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\nTraton\u2019s recently posted a stronger-than-expected first half result with an operating profit of 957 million euros. Truck orders jumped 49% including a near-tripling in North America, prompting the company to raise the lower end of its full-year margin outlook.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"August 14, 2026 8:40 AM, EDT Traton’s brands include International. (International Motors) Key Takeaways: Volkswagen is intensifying cost…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20947],"tags":[21188,5356],"class_list":["post-72467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-volkswagen","tag-traton","tag-volkswagen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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