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Volkswagen dealership in Beijing: The group is back in the profit zone
Photo: Tingshu Wang / REUTERS
The VW Group is getting the consequences of the Corona break-in visibly better under control.
After the drastic fall in spring, the world's largest automaker reported a profit again for the months of July to September.
The net profit attributable to the shareholders was just under 2.6 billion euros in the third quarter.
For comparison: Between April and June, the Volkswagen Group had to report a loss of around 1.6 billion euros.
Especially in April, as a result of the first corona lockdown, the conveyor belts had stood still for weeks, and car dealerships were also closed in many places.
In the meantime, VW has largely been able to work off the backlog in the warehouses and, thanks to the purchase bonuses for hybrid and electric cars, sell more cars.
Sales in the third quarter of the year were slightly more than 59 billion euros, 3.4 percent below the previous year's level - but that is a noticeable improvement on the previous quarter, when there was still a drop of 37 percent compared to 2019.
"The business of the Volkswagen Group remains severely affected by the Covid 19 pandemic after nine months," said CFO Frank Witter.
At the same time there is a "clear trend towards recovery" in the third quarter.
Volkswagen had already announced that it wanted to finish in the black this year, despite the precarious situation on the international auto markets.
The core brand VW Passenger Cars also posted an operating profit in the third quarter.
After losing billions in the second quarter of the year, the heart of the group achieved a result of over half a billion euros in ongoing business from July to September.
On this basis, the cars with the VW logo earned around 40 percent less than a year earlier.
In the second quarter, however, they had brought a loss of just under two billion euros.
The surprisingly good quarterly figures were well received on the stock exchange: Volkswagen's preferred shares rose by almost three percent.
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hej / dpa
