Operating profit fell by 7% in the year so far to €16.2 billion, while there was an operating return on sales of 6.9%. Production increased by 7.3% to 6.86 million units.
The company delivered 6.7 million units to customers in the period, up by 10.9%, with vehicle sales up by 8.3% to 6.8 million units.
Volkswagen’s electrification strategy continued, with deliveries of battery electric vehicles (BEV) up by 45% year-on-year to 531,500 vehicles in 2023 so far and BEV share of total deliveries rising to 7.9%.
Sales for the Core brand group (Volkswagen, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, Škoda, Seat/Cupra) were up by 24% in the first nine months of the year to €101 billion, while operating profit increased by 34% to €5 billion.
Despite this positive result, Volkswagen noted that the sales increase was not fully reflected in operating profit due to a less favourable mix and increased product costs.
The Progressive brand group (Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley, Ducati) was up by 13% in sales revenue to €50 billion in the period, while operating profit was €4.6 billion. Meanwhile, the Sport Luxury group, comprised of Porsche, had sales revenue of €27.79 billion.
In the third quarter alone, the company delivered 2.34 million units to customers, up by 7.4% against the same period of 2022, while vehicle sales increased by 3.5% to 2.31 million units. Production dropped by 2.8% to 2.17 million units. Sales revenue for the third quarter totalled €78.84 billion, up by 11.6%.
Looking forward, Volkswagen Group expects deliveries to total 9-9.5 million vehicles in the full fiscal year, with a sales revenue increase of 10-15%.
CFO Arno Antlitz said: “Overall, we are on a robust course and have again increased sales volumes and revenues in the third quarter. However, we cannot be satisfied with our profitability, which in the third quarter fell short of our ambitious targets. We are now concentrating on the systemic implementation of the 10-point plan and our cross-brand performance programs.”
