11:27 am, May 5, 2022
Volkswagen Group brands saw increases in margin in the first quarter of this year despite falling sales, deliveries and production globally.
It reported a profit of €8.5bn (£7.1bn) in its first quarter of 2022 despite the challenging a challenging backdrop.
Earlier in the year it warned that €3.5bn of this would be set aside for commodity hedging due to rising costs of raw materials, and it reported that underlying operating profit would be around €5bn (£4.2bn) although it did not provide an exact amount. This is up from the €4.8bn (£4.05bn) in Q1 2021.
Global sales for Volkswagen Group in the first three months fell by 14.5 percent, reflecting the global drop but was significantly worse than BMW Group’s Q1 drop in sales of 6.2 per cent.
Deliveries to customers also fell 21.9 per cent, a total of 534,000 units down, compared to Q1 2021.
Production dropped by 11.9 per cent or 275,000 vehicles.
Revenue for the group was marginally up on last year, regardless of the drops in sales and deliveries, to €62.7bn (£52.9bn).
However, Volkswagen, Seat and VW Commercial Vehicles all saw an increase in margins while Skoda saw a decline due to consolidating its Russian business.
Across this volume brand group, VW Group reported sales were down from €27.4bn (£23.1bn) last year in Q1 to €24.2bn (£20.4bn) and operating profit also fell by €500m (£3421m) to €0.9bn (£0.75m).
Bentley remained the most profitable part of the business with operating profit before special items up from €1.5bn (£1.26bn) in Q1 last year to €3.5bn (£2.95bn) in 2022.
CEO Herbert Diess said: ‘Our group has shown great resilience again in the first quarter despite the unprecedented challenges the world faces due to the terrible war in Ukraine and the ongoing pandemic situation with its impact on supply chains.
‘As a truly global company, we have extensive production capacities in all major growth and sales markets worldwide. Volkswagen’s global set up helped us to mitigate many of the adverse effects we are currently seeing.
‘Even in a more polarised world, Volkswagen is firmly committed to expanding its global footprint, further driving its transformation into a sustainable and fully digital mobility provider.’
