Schmücker brought to the job a combination of political skill and personal charm that had eluded his two immediate predecessors:[2] his authority within the company was also enhanced by the extent of the financial crisis that directly preceded his appointment and which had appeared to place the very survival of the business in doubt.

One of Schmücker's first achievements at Wolfsburg involved reducing the Volkswagen workforce by 25,000 employees during 1975, applying, in the words of a contemporary industry commentator, methods and systems he had learned at Ford.

The new car, based on the underpinnings of the Audi 100 C2, turned up a couple of years later badged as the Porsche 924, but sold in much lower volumes (and at a near Porsche-level higher price) than had been envisaged when Volkswagen had commissioned the project.

It was an effort to make the Rabbit less expensive to sell in North America at a time when the German Mark was gaining in value both against the U.S. dollar and against the currencies of other competitor economies such as Italy, Japan and France.

[1] Under Schmücker, the Beetle was no longer the unstoppable force in European and US marketplaces it had been at the start of the decade, and in price sensitive markets the German built Golf was hampered by government determination to retain a strong currency.