Volkswagen

Regarding Volkswagen's (VW) soaring profits, I was surprised to see the news (The Jakarta Post, March 29) illustrated with a picture of a German assembly line. At least VW should have supplied a picture of one of its Brazilian factories. According to Business Week (Feb. 26, 1996) VW's Brazilian subsidiary pulled an estimated US$675 million in net income last year.

In 1995 Volkswagen unveiled plans to invest $2.5 billion by 1999 to double its Brazilian output, to one million vehicles per year, and make Brazil its center for worldwide truck production. Bad news for Mercedes-Benz, Scania and Volvo.

Such profits have been subsidizing VW overmanned and inefficient factory in Wolfsburg. The guys work only four days a week and because the plant is 20 percent owned by the state of Lower Saxony, it can't make workers redundant. It is regarded as Europe's last communist company. Guess which company is Mr. Piech's love-baby.

OSVALDO COELHO

Bandung, West Java