Volkswagen's Representative in Northvolt Leaves the Board

Volkswagen's representative on the board of the Swedish electric vehicle battery manufacturer Northvolt, Sven Fuhrmann, has left the company's governing body amid a financial crisis.

The German car manufacturer is the largest owner of the Scandinavian company, holding a 21% stake, and has not clarified who will replace Fuhrmann on the board.

"Volkswagen is a strong partner of Northvolt, and we are in close cooperation with them and the group brands we work for," the company stated in a release.

Last week, the company's CEO, Peter Carlsson, stated that the liquidity needs to keep the firm operational in the long term amount to 10 billion Swedish crowns (approximately 838 million euros).

The company asserts that it is on track to secure an immediate injection of around 278 million euros, although as of today, Northvolt has a monthly operational cost of about 93.17 million euros.

At the end of September, the Scandinavian company announced the layoff of 1,600 workers in Sweden, nearly one-fifth of the group's total workforce at the end of 2023, due to these liquidity issues. It is estimated that to achieve profitability, the firm must reach a workforce reduction of approximately 20% globally and 25% in Sweden.

Northvolt's financing, until now, was backed by an order volume valued at over 49.3 billion euros from manufacturers like Volkswagen or BMW, but production problems and low demand for electric vehicles have deprived the company of these revenues following the cancellation of several orders by automakers.