Volkswagen has announced its sales and financial results for the first half of the year, and the figures are staggering. Just in the first six months, Wolfsburg managed to surpass the three-million mark in sales with 3.12 million units sold, making it the best half-year performance for the company.
As a result, Volkswagen brought home €42.7 billion in sales revenue, an increase of eight percent over the same period the year before, translating to a 20% increase in operating profit at €2.1 billion. However, the company had to make €1.6 billion in one-off expenses due to processes related to the diesel emissions cheating scandal, dropping that figure to €0.5 billion.
The increase in sales – 6.3% up on the 2.93 million units sold in 2017 – was partly attributed to the company’s strong SUV offensive, which has led to marked growth in all regions. The new Touareg went on sale beginning in the second quarter of the year, joining the bestselling Tiguan and the smaller T-Roc, which has received 100,000 orders since it was introduced late last year. An even smaller T-Cross will follow.
The results are telling, as within just one year, Volkswagen’s share in the global SUV market went up from 13% to 18%, and its piece of the European market pie jumped from 17% to 25%. The biggest gains, however, were made in the United States, where its share almost quadrupled from 10% to 38%.
Overall, the company recorded mid to high single-digit growth in deliveries both in Germany and in major automotive markets in Western Europe, China and the US. In Russia and Brazil, the figures went up by over 20%. A higher share of sales were made up of high-margin SUVs, improving company earnings; Volkswagen also made productivity improvements and expects a cost saving of around €2.2 billion by the end of the year.
Even so, Volkswagen cannot afford to rest on its laurels, as it says that it will need to make additional funds to be able to transition itself to electric mobility and autonomous driving, as well as for its digital initiatives from its own resources. The company’s board of management and its works council will decide on further measures and work together to continue to be sustainable and competitive in the future.
The company will retain its financial forecast for the full year, despite the impending changeover to the new, more time-consuming Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP). Volkswagen expects sales revenue to increase by up to 10% and an operating return on sales before special items by between four and five percent, resulting in a positive cash flow once again, before special items.
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VW is the best case study students can use on ‘How to use Crisis Management to improve your Efficiency’. Amazing company!
Proton is the best case study students can use on ‘Power Window for Dummies’.
U make my day bro
get over it man.. thats freaking old news
Basher still stuck inside cave yo. He thinks P1 cars r still from Wira & Waja era.
Why dragged P1 here? That is insane
Yeap, after WWII…see how fast both german & japan recovered. Remarkable…how fast they recovered from dieselgate crisis…
they recovered fast because they were already engineering giants at that point and did not have to start from zero. plus the US had a great hand in ensuring they rebuild quickly.
When the US (and especially the UK) were managing VW after the war, it was a depressed company serving mostly as a parts supplier. It was after the German management took over in the 1950s that VW took off
Dsg ok?
plan to go for 2.0T passat, is the wet dsg? or it needs longer time to know the wet dsg life span….any owners can help?
Wet DSG has no issues. Have been using a Golf GTI with wet DSG for more than 10 years now. No issues at all. As for Dry DSG, currently no more problems also as VW Malaysia has taken necessary action since 2010 to rectify the situation. Now all VW service stations throughout Malaysia equipped to handle wet and dry DSG with no issues.
VAG (VW Auto Group) is the most successful company in the world actually. Their quality and product range fron VW cheapest until Lamboghini and Bugatti is remarkably finest quality. I think second is Daimler Group but 10% now owned by Geely hehe.
Cheapest is Skoda. VW is mid range. But yes. They are the most successful car company in the world today.
VW had to make €1.6 billion in one-off expenses due to processes related to the diesel emissions cheating scandal.
The moral of this scandal is “Don’t cheap” otherwise VW as a group would have sold & profit more.