While some predicted that Volkswagen would eventually throw in the towel due to the Dieselgate, it somehow managed to emerge with a profit.
The Group’s first-half earnings, AutomotiveNews reports, rose 7 percent to €7.5 billion ($8.25 billion), with increased European sales playing their part, as well as a return of orders from large corporate fleets and a positive impact from the efficiency program.
“The numbers show a historic record result in the second quarter, and that’s just spectacular considering the headwinds VW faces with declining revenues and all the woes triggered by the diesel scandal“, said Frankfurt-based analyst at Metzler Bank, Juergen Pieper.
An ad-hoc announcement made by the German automaker predicts the sales revenue for 2016 to be down by as much as 5 percent over the previous year, though this depends on the economic conditions in South America and Russia, the exchange rate development and “in light of the diesel issue”. The full report for the first six months will be published on July 28.
Volkswagen’s execs seem to have steered the ship away from the massive emissions scandal storm and into calmer waters, while setting aside €16.2 billion ($17.9 billion) to pay for repairs of the more than 11 million diesel vehicles equipped with the cheating software worldwide, legal costs and buybacks.
