2:21 pm, May 7, 2021
Volkswagen has signed off quarter one 2021 by booking strong profits and increased sales, and has raised its forecast for the rest of the year.
Q1 operating profit rocketed to 4.8bn euros from 900m euros in the same quarter last year, while operating profit was 7.7 per cent thanks to increased sales of pure electric and plug-in hybrid cars across the VW Group.
The company said it has ‘successfully’ managed the Covid-19 pandemic and semiconductor shortages during Q1.
Deliveries were up 21.2 per cent on the previous year to 2.4 million vehicles, up from two million in the same period last year. Sales of electrified vehicles nearly doubled to 133,300 units.
Its share of the global car market grew by 0.2 percentage points to 12.4 per cent, and China led the growth – up 61.4 per cent.
Group sales revenue rose significantly by 13.3 per cent to a 62.4bn euros, up from 55.1bn euros in Q1 2020, and exceeded the pre-pandemic level of 2019 (60bn euros).
Looking ahead to the rest of the year, Volkswagen said it’s raising its forecast for operating profit to between 5.5 and seven per cent.
VW said it has also raised its net cash flow and net liquidity predictions, but didn’t reveal any more.
Herbert Diess, CEO of the Volkswagen Group, said: ‘We started the year with great momentum and are on a strong operational course. This is clearly reflected in our positive quarterly figures.
‘At the same time, we remain fully committed to our transformation into a climate-neutral and software-driven mobility group.
‘Our successful e-offensive continues to gain momentum and we have significantly expanded it with attractive new models.
‘We are also making good progress with the key topic of digitalisation and have reached important milestones.
‘There is still much more we can achieve in the remainder of the year.’
