The Volkswagen passenger cars brand (this includes VW, Audi, Seat, Bentley, Bugatti and Lamborghini) increased its sales revenue and operating profit in the first half of 2019, despite a slight fall in ‘deliveries’.

Driven by the improved product mix, the sales revenue of the Volkswagen brand grew by 3.4% to 44.1 billion euros. Operating profit before ‘special items’ was 7.4% higher than in the first half of 2018, at 2.3 billion euros, while the ‘operating return on sales’ increased to 5.2%.

There were no further special items resulting from litigation risks in the second quarter, after about 400 million euros had been ‘booked’ in the first quarter.

The ‘board member for finance’, Arno Antlitz, said (www.volkswagenag.com) : “In a difficult market environment, the Volkswagen brand developed very satisfactorily in the first half of the year.

"We were able to record improvements in operating profit and return on sales, compared with the very good figures for the first half of 2018.

"The operating profit was supported by factors including the continuing product offensive, the optimisation of fixed costs, and progress with the turnround in the regions.

"We will further strengthen our competitive position through targeted investments in e-mobility and digitalisation.”

While the brand was able to gain market shares in the first half of the year, deliveries fell by 3.9% to 2,998,200 vehicles as a result of the overall weak market conditions.

In the current financial year, the Volkswagen brand expects that the operating return on sales will be within the ‘target corridor’ of 4-5%.

The brand does not expect the second stage of the changeover to the WLTP test cycle to have a significant financial impact in the current financial year.

With regard to sales revenue, the Volkswagen brand says it expects an increase of up to 5%.