Volkswagen revealed this Thursday that the profit for the first quarter of this year had a year-on-year drop of 29.9%, to 4,700 million euros, due to an accounting effect, despite having increased sales and group income.
This accounting effect is linked to the hedging operations of raw materials that “very inflated” the operating result of last year, the German automaker clarified in a statement.
sales of second larger world car manufacturer increased by 22% in the first quarter of this year, up to 76,000 million euros, compared to the same period of the previous year, driven by the recovery of sales in Europe and North America, justified Volkswagen, which confirmed its objectives for the end of this anus.
The total number of vehicles sold worldwide, for its part, had a year-on-year increase of 7.5% in the first quarter, he advanced.
“With this solid performance and an order book of 1.8 million vehicles at the end of the first quarter, we confirm our forecasts for the 2023 financial year,” said the financial director of the German business group, Arno Antlitz, in the released note.
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In terms of geographies, vehicle deliveries in China, Volkswagen’s main market, fell 14.5% in the period under review, though the group said it is “convinced” that sales in this region “will recover during the year, thanks to the expansion of the range of models and specific technology for this market.”
Volkswagen’s sales secured the group a strong position in the Chinese car market until 2022, with a 16% market share, across all vehicle and engine type groups.
But the rise of electric cars in China, where the market is dominated by local manufacturers like BYD, it is causing the German automaker to lose the strength it used to have.
Source: Observadora
