Cars and Drivers

Volkswagen Earnings Rise on Audi, Volumes Rise in China

Volkswagen Golf 2015
Volkswagen AG
Volkswagen released its results for the first nine months of 2014 on Thursday, and passenger car sales rose 5.7% worldwide, with wide variations among the company’s various markets. Revenues rose 1.4% to €147.72 billion (about $182.27 billion) for the nine months and rose 4.1% to €48.91 billion in the third quarter. Operating profit was up 16.3% year-over-year for the quarter and up 10% for the first nine months of the year.

U.S. sales fell 5.1% to just under 440,000 units for the nine months, while sales in China rose 15.2% to nearly 2.72 million units. Sales in Western Europe rose 7.3%, and they fell 18.6% in South America.

Sales of VW passenger cars worldwide rose 3% to 4.56 million units for the first three quarters, while Audi sales jumped 10% to almost 1.3 million units. Sales of the company’s Czech-made Škoda cars rose 13% to 774,000, and Porsche sales rose 13.3% to nearly 136,000. Total sales for the first three quarters came to 7.6 million units, putting the company solidly on track to reach its goal of 10 million cars sold this year, a goal the company initially hoped to reach by 2018.

The boost in sales for the company’s Audi cars and the continuing double-digit rises in Chinese sales are the good news. Operating profit in the VW passenger car segment dropped from €2.1 billion a year ago to €1.7 billion. To combat that drop-off, the company has launched a plan to cut costs, but negative impacts from currency exchange rates in the first half of 2014 and higher upfront costs have outpaced savings so far.

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