The corona crisis is widespread in all corners of the economy and certainly also in the car sector. Sales numbers have plummeted and production is at a very low ebb. Nevertheless, the Volkswagen Group is hopeful that 2020 will still provide green figures.
Before the coronavirus took hold of the world, it was significantly less in the car industry worldwide. The peak in sales numbers in recent years has passed and 2020 promised to be a challenging year for various brands. That is all the more the case now. About a month ago, the Volkswagen Group indicated that per week that the factories were shut down because of the virus, it missed about two billion euros. In addition, the question is how the sales will be this year if things go better again.
In any case, it is already clear in the first quarter that there are serious blows. Volkswagen reports € 900 million in preliminary profit for Q1. That was 4.8 billion in the same period last year. So a huge decrease and this quarter will be tough again. Nevertheless, the group remains remarkably optimistic about 2020. Relatively speaking, then. It is clear that it will be a bad year. However, Volkswagen still aims for a profit at the bottom of the line, reports Reuters. “We have taken various measures to cut costs and remain financially robust,” said COO Frank Winter. The fact that production in various factories in Europe has restarted partly must of course contribute quickly to this.