Deutsche Bank: Volkswagen's Approval of 2030 Strategy Comes as 'Major Surprise' to Investors

11:56 AM EDT, 09/04/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Deutsche Bank Research on Friday noted that Volkswagen (VOW.F, VOW3.F) securing the green light from its supervisory board for its new 2030 strategy came as a "major surprise" to nearly all of its investors. "The unanimous approval of Volkswagen's Zukunftsplan 2030 last night is, in our view, a fundamental breakthrough and a much better-than-feared outcome. We expect the market to react positively. Virtually every single one of the numerous investors we spoke to over the last few days continued to view Volkswagen as simply 'not fixable', and scepticism around the likelihood of a comprehensive agreement remained extremely high," analysts said. "While a fully approved board plan was also not our formal base case, it is probably fair to say we were among the most constructive voices following publication of our recent note." On Thursday evening, the German automaker unveiled a plan to cut 50,000 positions across the group, including management roles, as part of its Future Plan 2030 plan, which it described as "the most extensive transformation program" in the company's history. "To be clear, today's agreement does not solve Volkswagen's challenges overnight. It merely marks the beginning of the next phase, and execution remains key. However, it removes one of the biggest investor concerns: whether the company is still capable of making the difficult decisions required to address them," the research firm added. Deutsche Bank rates the stock at buy, with a price target of 115 euros. As of Friday's close, Volkswagen's preferred and ordinary shares were up 6% on Xetra.