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Volkswagen announces new round of COVID-19 bonuses for employees
Volkswagen announced earlier in February that it would pay out another round of “Coronavirus Premium” bouus payments to employees at its German factories “in recognition of their great dedication in recent months working under difficult conditions.” The bonus is worth €500 ($564) and will be paid out to employees at the end of February.
The Coronavirus Premium program was announced by Volkswagen after discussions with the company’s Works Council. The bonus acknowledges every employee’s commitment to the brand as the COVID-19 pandemic made work conditions more difficult on a global scale.
“In recent months, the pandemic greatly tested our employees – whether they were working at our locations or remotely. The flexibility and tireless dedication they have shown is a remarkable performance that we would like to recognize. That is the reason for the new coronavirus premium,” Chief Human Resources Officer Gunnar Kilian said.
Volkswagen still delivered nearly 4.9 million vehicles in 2021 and doubled its electric vehicle delivery count last year. However, it has not been an easy task keeping pace with other companies and consumer demand. Volkswagen halted production in several markets, including Asia and Europe, during the pandemic. All the while, the German car company has been attempting to keep pace with Tesla and others as the race for EV domination continues to heat up. A global pandemic and a complete transition of VW’s automotive playbook undoubtedly threw plenty of wrenches in the system.
“The coronavirus premium represents an important sign of appreciation in difficult times,” General Works Council Chairwoman Daniela Cavallo said. “In the discussions about the premium, the Chairs of the Works Councils at the different locations made it clear that our workforce could always be relied on. At the same time, the strain was immense: industrial production under difficult pandemic conditions, repeated short-time working, loss of shift allowances, the balancing act between working from home while schooling and caring for children – these are just a few examples.”
Volkswagen boosts Project Trinity budget to electrify its European production plants
Cavallo added that the entire bonus will be paid out to the employees, and will not be taxed. “The €500 will be paid gross for net, which means that employees will receive the full amount. Independent of the coronavirus premium, we are continuing our discussions on the performance-related bonus envisaged by the collective bargaining agreement. It will be difficult to achieve more than the November advance payment but we will of course continue to fight on this important issue.”
The premium is a one-time payment of €500 for the period from July 2021 to February 2022. Apprentices, dual students, and Ph.D. candidates will receive up to €300 “in recognition of the additional strain caused by the pandemic.” As mentioned previously, the bonus will be paid out in February salary and is exempt from tax and social security contributions.
Volkswagen has already paid out one round of the COVID-19 bonus. The German automaker paid out a €1,000 bonus to employees for the period from March 2020 to June 2021.
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Tesla made a change to the Cybertruck, and nobody noticed. But to be fair, nobody could have, but it was revealed by the program’s lead engineer that it was aimed toward simplifying manufacturing through a minor change in casting.
After the Cybertruck was given a Top Safety Pick+ award by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), for its reputation as the safest pickup on the market, some wondered what had changed about the vehicle.
Tesla makes changes to its vehicles routinely through Over-the-Air software updates, but aesthetic changes are relatively rare. Vehicles go through refreshes every few years, as the Model 3 and Model Y did earlier this year. However, the Cybertruck is one of the vehicles that has not changed much since its launch in late 2023, but it has gone through some minor changes.
Most recently, Wes Morrill, the Cybertruck program’s Lead Engineer, stated that the company had made a minor change to the casting of the all-electric pickup for manufacturing purposes. This change took place in April:
We made a minor change on the casting for manufacturability in April. Our Internal testing shows no difference in crash result but IIHS only officially tested the latest version
— Wes (@wmorrill3) December 17, 2025
The change is among the most subtle that can be made, but it makes a massive difference in manufacturing efficiency, build quality, and scalability.
Morrill revealed Tesla’s internal testing showed no difference in crash testing results performed by the IIHS.
The 2025 Cybertruck received stellar ratings in each of the required testing scenarios and categories. The Top Safety Pick+ award is only given if it excels in rigorous crash tests. This requires ‘Good’ ratings in updated small and moderate overlap front, side, roof, and head restraints.
Additionally, it must have advanced front crash prevention in both day and night. Most importantly, the vehicle must have a ‘Good’ or ‘Acceptable’ headlights standard on all trims, with the “+ ” specifically demanding the toughest new updated moderate overlap test that checks rear-seat passenger protection alongside driver safety.
Tesla has entered an interesting situation with its Full Self-Driving suite in California, as the State’s Department of Motor Vehicles had adopted an order for a suspension of the company’s sales license, but it immediately put it on hold.
The company has been granted a reprieve as the DMV is giving Tesla an opportunity to “remedy the situation.” After the suspension was recommended for 30 days as a penalty, the DMV said it would give Tesla 90 days to allow the company to come into compliance.
The DMV is accusing Tesla of misleading consumers by using words like Autopilot and Full Self-Driving on its advanced driver assistance (ADAS) features.
The State’s DMV Director, Steve Gordon, said that he hoped “Tesla will find a way to get these misleading statements corrected.” However, Tesla responded to the story on Tuesday, stating that this was a “consumer protection” order for the company using the term Autopilot.
It said “not one single customer came forward to say there’s a problem.” It added that “sales in California will continue uninterrupted.”
This was a “consumer protection” order about the use of the term “Autopilot” in a case where not one single customer came forward to say there’s a problem.
Sales in California will continue uninterrupted.
— Tesla North America (@tesla_na) December 17, 2025
Tesla has used the terms Autopilot and Full Self-Driving for years, but has added the term “(Supervised)” to the end of the FSD suite, hoping to remedy some of the potential issues that regulators in various areas might have with the labeling of the program.
It might not be too long before Tesla stops catching flak for using the Full Self-Driving name to describe its platform.
Tesla Robotaxi goes driverless as Musk confirms Safety Monitor removal testing
The Robotaxi suite has continued to improve, and this week, vehicles were spotted in Austin without any occupants. CEO Elon Musk would later confirm that Tesla had started testing driverless rides in Austin, hoping to launch rides without any supervision by the end of the year.
Tesla stock (NASDAQ: TSLA) closed at an all-time high on Tuesday, jumping over 3 percent during the day and finishing at $489.88.
The price beats the previous record close, which was $479.86.
Shares have had a crazy year, dipping more than 40 percent from the start of the year. The stock then started to recover once again around late April, when its price started to climb back up from the low $200 level.
This week, Tesla started to climb toward its highest levels ever, as it was revealed on Sunday that the company was testing driverless Robotaxis in Austin. The spike in value pushed the company’s valuation to $1.63 trillion.
Tesla Robotaxi goes driverless as Musk confirms Safety Monitor removal testing
It is the seventh-most valuable company on the market currently, trailing Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet (Google), Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta.
Shares closed up $14.57 today, up over 3 percent.
The stock has gone through a lot this year, as previously mentioned. Shares tumbled in Q1 due to CEO Elon Musk’s involvement with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which pulled his attention away from his companies and left a major overhang on their valuations.
However, things started to rebound halfway through the year, and as the government started to phase out the $7,500 tax credit, demand spiked as consumers tried to take advantage of it.
Q3 deliveries were the highest in company history, and Tesla responded to the loss of the tax credit with the launch of the Model 3 and Model Y Standard.
Additionally, analysts have announced high expectations this week for the company on Wall Street as Robotaxi continues to be the focus. With autonomy within Tesla’s sights, things are moving in the direction of Robotaxi being a major catalyst for growth on the Street in the coming year.
Tesla made a change to the Cybertruck and nobody noticed
Tesla enters interesting situation with Full Self-Driving in California
