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Crisis at Volkswagen: VW writes off Porsche
The Wolfsburg-based car manufacturer reported a billion-dollar loss for the last quarter. However, he is still profitable in ongoing business. more...
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The bad news from Wolfsburg doesn't stop. Between July and September alone, Volkswagen made a loss of 5.8 billion euros. The reason for the billion-dollar loss was value adjustments totaling around 7.8 billion euros. In terms of ongoing business, the group was still profitable in the first nine months of this year.
"Now we have to implement the measures quickly and consistently. We no longer have unlimited time," said VW CFO Arno Antlitz, also looking at the employee side. Because of the ongoing sales crisis, the group terminated almost all collective agreements at the end of September. At the time, the IG Metall union spoke of a “bad foul” on the part of the workforce.
Overall, the group, which, in addition to the main brand VW, also sold Porsche. Seat, Audi and Škoda owned 5.9 million vehicles in the first nine months of the year. This is a decrease of 11 percent compared to the same period last year. And the group had already announced a loss of 1 billion euros for this.
The group is suffering from a slump in demand, especially in China. Sales there fell by almost a third from January to September compared to the first nine months of 2025. In Europe and South America, however, VW was able to sell more vehicles again.
The luxury brand Porsche in particular is a problem child and the main reason for the current billion-dollar loss. Volkswagen had to reduce the value of the brand by 6.4 billion euros. Although this does not affect the account balance, it does affect the result for accounting reasons. The group has to write off another billion on its China business.
However, the actual day-to-day business has been profitable so far this year. Without depreciation, the result amounted to 8.8 billion euros. This corresponds to a return on sales of 3.8 percent. And even with the billions in depreciation in the last quarter, the VW Group is still in the profit zone this year. The bottom line is that there was at least a small increase of 0.1 billion euros for the first nine months.