(Reuters) – Volkswagen (ETR:VOWG_p) will face investors hungry for answers at its capital markets day next Wednesday on how it will achieve high cost-cutting targets and whether it will heed their calls for an independent audit of its co-owned Xinjiang plant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pressure is high after a turbulent shareholder meeting in May where activists interrupted proceedings with protests against the carmaker’s jointly-owned plant in Urumqi, Xinjiang and investors grilled executives on their plans to take on Chinese competition in electric vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The 21 June CMD is an opportunity to reset a fraught relationship with investors, a challenging exercise,” Jefferies wrote in a note on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The carmaker has invited investors to the “Porsche Experience Center” at a racetrack in southwest Germany to test-drive its cars, hear presentations on its brands and get an updated financial strategy from CEO Oliver Blume and CFO Arno Antlitz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Porsche-Piech family, who own 31.9% of Volkswagen, are expecting Blume to begin replicating his success from Porsche at Volkswagen, a source close to the families said, with the caveat that a multi-brand group cannot achieve the same margins as a luxury player.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One source close to the company said Stellantis, who have a similar number of brands as Volkswagen but higher margins, was viewed by some as a benchmark – as well as growing Chinese EV giants like BYD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Investors also demanded that Volkswagen conduct an independent audit of the Urumqi plant, which executives have is only possible with the agreement of joint venture partner SAIC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two investors, who declined to be named, said they expect the topic to come up again on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alongside targets, investors needed details on how the carmaker expects to make its EV production more cost-effective, Daniel Roeska of Bernstein Research wrote in a note on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The risk is that instead we see more punchy earnings and volume targets, with little to support them,” he added.<\/p>\n