It should come as no surprise that the corona crisis is also severely weakening in the Volkswagen Group. The group has announced that it has deep red figures at the bottom of the line for the first six months of this year.
Volkswagen is noticing the consequences of the corona crisis. Sales of all brands belonging to the group in January through June were 3.9.4 percent lower with 3.9 million cars delivered than in the same period last year. In this respect it will crawl out of a valley again in May, but the great suffering has already been suffered.
Where Volkswagen managed to realize an operating profit of € 10 billion in the first half of last year, it now records a loss of € 800 million. This is of course largely attributed to the plummeting sales. However, the settlement of the diesel scandal still plays a role in this. That cost Volkswagen € 700 million in the recent period. Last year it was worth € 1 billion in the same period, which was much easier to bear because of the profit.
Despite the dismal results, Volkswagen remains somewhat optimistic for 2020 as a whole, under certain circumstances. The brand from Wolfsburg is counting on the fact that things will be straightened out in the second half of the year and that a profit can still be recorded over 2020.
Of all the brands that fall under the Volkswagen Group, Bentley performed best. With 4,569 cars sold, only 3 percent went down. Seat was hit the hardest. The Spanish brand saw sales fall to 197,000 pieces, 46.9 percent less than last year. Sales of the Volkswagen brand declined 39.8 percent, Audi 34.2 percent, Skoda 33.6 percent and Porsche 14.8 percent.