Europe’s largest automaker, Volkswagen, is to shed 50,000 jobs by the end of the decade, as it faces falling sales in China and North America and punitive US tariffs imposed by Donald Trump.
The 10-brand group, whose luxury subsidiaries Porsche and Audi are also under pressure, said the jobs would go in Germany, affecting the entire group, as part of a restructuring drive in light of the darkening global business climate.
The group had already struck a deal with German trade unions at the end of 2024 to slash 35,000 jobs by 2030, in part by natural attrition through retirement and other staff departures.
What does the app allow you to do. My Mercedes can open and close windows amongst various other things but only if you pay a subscription. 😞
What’s worse is it has a dash cam built in but you have to pay £200 to unlock it. Yet I bought this car used and presumably the previous owner had that as it was specced out, but as it changed hands I’d have to pay. That said I love the car and the quality is great.
My app is extremely limited, I can see charging state, and plan charging, and it has a map where I can see where the car is, and I can turn air condition on and off or set a timer/planner for it. Then there is a health report with a lot of status items.
I don’t think it gets much more basic than that.
PS: It also has some sort of roadside assistance, but the one through my insurance is way better. The one VW offer also seems to be limited to if there are injuries. But why would I call them for that?
Finally there’s a number to a help line. Which I’ve never used.
The only thing I have missed, and only once, is the ability to lock the doors.
Open and close windows could probably be nice in the summer, (We bought ours November 2025) but we have dark rear window and in rear doors too, so it shouldn’t get too hot if parked correctly, and the air-condition is very efficient. It does however have a function to control all 4 windows at the same time.
Despite the simplistic app, we are very happy with our ID.4. There are so many clever little details, including how many of the automatic features work. Lighting up the surrounding when you get out if it’s just a little dark, lights in the cabin when you park, how the fob turn on the screen before you get to the car. Phantom pedal for the trunk. The convenience of the HUD. The fully automatic climate control, which I didn’t even touch for months after we bought the car, because it was just right.
But to be fair, our old car was rather old, so this is a HUGE step up. Despite out old car was also a very nice car with full leather cabin.
I bet a Mercedes beat it, but we don’t drive enough to justify buying a Mercedes on our budget.