The Volkswagen Group had both sales and earnings lower in the first quarter, weighed down by weak business in China and customs costs.
The Volkswagen Group came under further pressure on profitability in the first quarter in a difficult environment. The costs of US import duties in particular were a burden. The operating margin was 3.3 percent, around 0.4 percentage points below the previous year’s value, as the DAX group announced on Thursday in Wolfsburg. Analysts had expected an average of 3.7 percent. The shares fell.
In XETRA trading, VW shares temporarily moved 1.66 percent lower at 84.06 euros. Analyst Jose Asumendi from the major US bank JPMorgan pointed to a strong inflow of cash – this was what many investors were paying attention to – and it was significantly better than he expected, the expert wrote.
In the last quarter of 2025, CFO Arno Antlitz had already tightened the reins on spending in order to improve the so-called cash flow. In the first quarter, the net cash flow in the Automotive Division – i.e. excluding financial services – was just under 2 billion euros. A year earlier, 0.8 billion had flowed out.
According to Antlitz, Europe’s largest car manufacturer achieved an operating margin of 4.3 percent before special items. This excludes conversion costs of 0.8 billion euros, including 0.5 billion for the end of production of the ID.4 electric car in the USA. The remaining amount is costs for savings programs in the group with the group’s mass brands and at the Traton commercial vehicle holding company.
According to the statement, Antlitz also believes that the adjusted return is still far too low. The group is currently trying to launch another major savings program. This should significantly reduce costs again in order to be able to compete with Chinese providers and counteract burdens elsewhere.
At the beginning of the year, the operating result fell by a total of a good 14 percent to 2.46 billion euros, while sales fell by 2.5 percent to 75.7 billion euros. The bottom line is that earnings after taxes slipped by a good 28 percent to 1.56 billion euros.
“Wars, geopolitical tensions, trade barriers, stricter regulations and tough competition are causing headwinds,” said CEO Oliver Blume, according to the statement. According to a presentation, the US import tariffs alone cost the company another 0.6 billion euros. They had already devoured billions last year.
Overall, the VW Group is suffering from weak sales figures, especially in China and the USA. Worldwide, this reduced the number of deliveries in the group in the months January to March to just 2.05 million vehicles of all group brands, 4 percent less than a year earlier. Deliveries fell particularly in China and North America. Growth in Europe could not compensate for this.
The group result was also burdened by the weak figures from the sports car manufacturer Porsche, which it presented the evening before. From January to March, profit after taxes fell by almost a quarter. The truck subsidiary TRATON with the MAN and Scania brands had also already reported a significant drop in profits due to high special effects.
/men/fjo/tav/jha/
WOLFSBURG (dpa-AFX)
Selected lever products on Volkswagen (VW) St.
With knock-outs, speculative investors can participate disproportionately in price movements. Simply select the lever you want and we will show you suitable open-end products on Volkswagen (VW) St.
The leverage must be between 2 and 20
Advertising
