Im dritten Quartal: Volkswagen meldet 5,82 Milliarden Euro Verlust

In the third quarter, Volkswagen reported a loss of 5.82 billion euros. This financial setback was driven by a massive Porsche write-down, weak sales in China, and costs associated with reorganizing the group. The company's earnings after tax stood at around minus 5.82 billion euros for the period of July to September. In the previous quarter, Volkswagen had also announced a loss of nearly 1.07 billion euros.

The main reason for the deficit was one-time effects amounting to 7.8 billion euros. Moreover, the weak market environment in China, increasing pressure on prices and competition worldwide, and the growing share of lower-margin electric vehicles in sales further strained the company. The overall turnover of the group fell by 6.3 percent to approximately 75.28 billion euros in the third quarter.

The Porsche write-off hit the profit particularly hard, as it amounted to around 6.4 billion euros. The impairment is non-cash but significantly burdens Volkswagen's operating profit, reflecting lower expectations for the future development of the Stuttgart-based brand. Porsche, once a profit gem of the group, has been in crisis for quite some time.

Notably, the decline in the China business, US trade policy, and adjustments in the electric vehicle strategy contributed to the strain. Sales continued to decline: from July to September, Volkswagen delivered 1.89 million vehicles, a 14.3 percent decrease compared to the previous year. In China, the sales slump was particularly pronounced.

In the third quarter, the Wolfsburg-based company sold almost 406,000 vehicles, a 38.5 percent decrease. By the end of September, all brands under the group's umbrella had sold around 6 million vehicles, 9.0 percent or roughly 600,000 fewer than in the previous year. Volkswagen's management had already slashed the profit forecast for the current year as early as mid-September.

The company now expected no more than 1 percent operational profit from turnover. Earlier, Volkswagen had anticipated a range of 4.0 to 5.5 percent. The operational profit for 2025 was expected to be 2.8 percent, up from 4.0 percent previously. The turnover for 2026 was projected to reach around 315 billion euros, which would place it in the middle of the forecast range.

The expectations had already been lowered in July, with the company now only expecting a stable development or even a 3 percent decline in revenue. In the previous year, the turnover amounted to 321.9 billion euros.