Volkswagen say their earnings rose 15% in the third quarter, benefiting from cost cuts at their core VW passenger cars division.
Quarterly group earnings jumped to €4.31bn from €3.75bn a year ago. Group revenue may exceed last year’s €217.3bn by more than 4%, and group operating margin is now expected to moderately exceed a target corridor of between 6% and 7%. The automaker say they booked €2.6bn in the three months ended 30 September to fix polluting diesel engines in the U.S., confirming an announcement made last month that will raise total provisions for the diesel scandal to at least €25.1bn.
The increased earnings are largely on strength of buyer attraction to the group’s expanded SUV range, with models such as the VW Atlas, Škoda Karoq, and Seat Ateca.
Among the group’s brand portfolio, VW, Porsche, Škoda, and Seat posted higher profits while results at Audi and Bentley were hit by falling vehicle sales. The automaker’s core VW brand doubled operating profit before special items to €2.5bn through September, helped particularly by cost optimisation measures.
