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Volkswagen bets on affordable EV for turnaround BERLIN: Volkswagen unveiled on Wednesday a small electric car that will cost around €20,000 (RM95,000) – a more affordable price-point than its current EV range – as the German auto titan seeks to turn around its fortunes. The VW ID. EVERY1, which is set to go on sale from 2027, will have a range of 250km and a top speed of 130kph, the manufacturer said as the vehicle was presented in Duesseldorf. Europe’s biggest carmaker has poured huge sums into the shift to electric vehicles in recent years but has struggled amid weakening demand in the continent and fierce competition from local rivals in key market China. Its planned new model is more affordable than its previous electric cars, which started at around €35,000, and is aimed at helping it gain ground in the mass-market EV segment. Other automakers, including Stellantis, Renault and Citroen are all planning electric cars for around the same price in the near future. VW’s latest offering is aimed at the European market, and will be produced in Europe, the manufacturer said – after causing controversy last year when it announced plans to relocate production of its iconic Golf to Mexico to cut costs. Like other European carmakers, Volkswagen is battling a severe crisis that has hammered its profits, and announced in December it would cut about 35,000 jobs in Germany by 2030. Manufacturers have been under pressure to offer cheaper electric models to boost sales due to a looming tightening of EU emissions reduction targets. On Monday, the bloc yielded to industry pressure, announcing European carmakers would have more time to meet the 2025 goals. – AFP Adidas to cut 500 jobs, says Yeezy trainers are history BERLIN: German sportswear giant Adidas said on Wednesday it will cut up to 500 jobs as it looks to continue its revival and turn the page on a messy split with US rapper Kanye West. The reduction in the headcount, aimed at driving efficiency, will affect staff at Adidas’s headquarters in Herzogenaurach and will progress on a voluntary basis, CEO Bjorn Gulden said. Gulden took the reins at the sports outfitter in 2023 in the wake of its damaging split with West – who now goes by Ye – over anti-Semitic remarks by the rapper. Following the end of the collaboration, Adidas began offloading excess stock of Yeezy products developed together with West. Adidas said on Wednesday it had sold off its last remaining pair of Yeezy-brand trainers in the last quarter of last year. The loss of West and the income from the lucrative athleisure line drove Adidas to a loss in 2023, but the group has since bounced back. In 2024, Adidas made a net profit of €824 million (RM3.9 billion) and said it hoped to continue the upward trend in 2025. – AFP

Visitors at the Lufthansa Technik AG booth at the inaugural edition of Business Aviation Asia Forum and Expo 2025 held at Changi Exhibition Centre in Singapore. – REUTERSPIC

Lufthansa profit dives amid strikes, rising costs

risked “damaging our guests, the company and ultimately our employees”. The airline’s problems worsened later in the year due to a string of issues, including weak market conditions and delayed aircraft deliveries. After a poor second quarter, the group slashed its outlook for the year and launched the turnaround plan. The Hamas-Israel war and broader tensions in the Middle East also had an impact, forcing Lufthansa on occasion to suspend flights to and from several destinations in the region. The group has also blamed EU climate regulations, particularly rules related to sustainable aviation fuels, for increasing costs, and last year introduced an environmental charge for fares in Europe to compensate. – AFP Debit cards followed in second place at 24.4% and cash in third place at 24.2%. Last October, the new president of the Swiss central bank, Martin Schlegel, unveiled plans for a new series of franc notes, saying cash would remain a “widely used payment method in the future” despite the rising market share of mobile and card payments. He noted cash continued have many advantages including working in case of power failures and technical problems. – AFP

profit as demand roared back when lockdowns were lifted. The worse figures for 2024 came despite an increase in passengers by 7% to 131 million. Lufthansa gave an upbeat outlook for 2025, however, saying it was aiming for operating profits that were “significantly higher” than last year. A turnaround programme launched last year for its flagship carrier, aimed at making hefty savings in the years ahead, will “lay the foundation for a sustainable increase in earnings”, it pledged. Lufthansa faced substantial turbulence in the first half of 2024 when it was hit by a wave of strikes as workers pushed for higher pay to combat inflation. The group’s ground staff and cabin crew staged repeated walkouts, which Lufthansa slammed as “uncompromising” and said lower house of Parliament means that the upper house must now take up the measure. Only around a quarter of payments in Switzerland are now made with cash, according to the latest survey by Swiss Payment Monitor, a group that brings together academics and the payments industry. It found that mobile payments – those made using a smartphone or another connected device – were the top method for the first time in October and November last year, with a 30.7% market share.

o But the German airline says turnaround plan will boost earnings this year

BERLIN: German airline giant Lufthansa said yesterday its 2024 profit dived during a turbulent year marked by strikes, rising costs and delays in aircraft deliveries, but vowed a turnaround plan will boost earnings this year. The group reported a net profit of €1.38 billion (RM6.6 billion) last year, down 18% from 2023. Revenue came in at €37.6 billion, an increase of 6% from the previous year. “Strikes weighed on the passenger airlines”, Lufthansa said in a statement. It also pointed to problems caused by “significantly higher costs, especially in Germany” as ZURICH: Swiss lawmakers voted on Wednesday in favour of enshrining cash in the country’s constitution as mobile and card payments have taken a dominant position. The lawmakers in the lower house of Parliament voted overwhelmingly against a government counterproposal to a referendum sought by a libertarian movement. The Swiss Liberty Movement, which groups together opponents of Covid-19 public health restrictions, submitted last month more than the 100,000 signatures needed to force a

well as “further delays in aircraft deliveries”. The result was nevertheless better than a forecast of just over €1 billion euros by analysts surveyed by the financial data firm FactSet. It came after a two-year streak of improving earnings for one of Europe’s biggest aviation groups, whose carriers include Lufthansa, Eurowings, Austrian, Swiss and Brussels Airlines. Like other airline groups, Lufthansa was hit hard when the coronavirus shut down global air travel and it had to be bailed out by the German government in 2020. It recorded two years of losses before flying strongly back into public referendum in the Alpine nation. The “Yes to a free and independent Swiss currency in bank notes and coins (Cash is liberty)” initiative would add a provision to the Alpine nation’s constitution that franc cash notes and coins remain in circulation. The national government opposed the initiative although its counterproposal still recognised the “major importance of cash for the economy and society”. The vote by lawmakers in the

Swiss lawmakers vote to enshrine cash in constitution