On October 30th, the Volkswagen Group released its third-quarter report for this year. In the first nine months of 2024, the Volkswagen Group's sales revenue reached €237.3 billion, a slight increase of 1% compared to the same period last year's €235.1 billion. Operating profit reached €12.9 billion, a significant decrease of 21% compared to the same period last year's €16.2 billion, with an operating profit margin of 5.4%. The net cash flow from automotive business was €3.3 billion, also significantly lower than the same period last year's €4.9 billion.
In the first nine months of 2024, the Volkswagen Group's vehicle sales reached 6.5 million units, a decrease of 4% compared to the same period last year's 6.8 million units. Overall, the growth in vehicle sales in North America (+4%) and South America (+16%) was offset by the decline in Western Europe (-1%), especially in China (-12%).
In terms of vehicle deliveries, in the first nine months of this year, the Volkswagen Group delivered a total of 6.524 million vehicles, a decrease of 2.8% compared to the same period last year's 6.715 million vehicles, accounting for 10.5% of the global vehicle delivery market, lower than the 11.0% of the same period last year. Among them, the total delivery volume of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles of the Volkswagen Group was 6.279 million, a year-on-year decrease of 2.9%.
Electric Vehicle Deliveries
Looking at electric vehicles, in the first nine months of this year, the Volkswagen Group delivered a total of 698,200 electric vehicles (including BEVs and PHEVs), a decrease of 1.3% compared to the same period last year. Electric vehicles accounted for 10.7% of the group's total deliveries, 0.2 percentage points higher than the 10.5% of the same period last year.
Among them:
• BEV or Pure Electric Vehicles (including heavy commercial BEVs): The Volkswagen Group's delivery volume of BEVs in the first nine months of this year reached 506,500 units (Q1: 136,000, Q2: 189,000, Q3: 189,000), a decrease of 25,000 units (-4.7%) compared to the same period last year. BEVs accounted for 7.8% of the total vehicle deliveries of the Volkswagen Group, a decrease of 0.1 percentage points from 7.9% last year.
• PHEV or Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles: The delivery volume of PHEVs was 191,700 units, a year-on-year increase of 9.1%.
During this period, the best-selling electric vehicle models of the Volkswagen Group included ID.4 / ID.5, ID.3, Audi Q4 e-tron, Škoda Enyaq iV, CUPRA Born, ID.7, ID Buzz, and Porsche Taycan, etc.
In terms of the geographical markets for BEVs, in the first nine months of this year, the Volkswagen Group's BEV deliveries saw an apparent decline in Europe and North America, while the BEV deliveries in the competitive Chinese market grew significantly.
• Western Europe: The delivery volume of BEVs of the Volkswagen Group was 293,300 units, a decrease of about 48,000 units compared to 341,100 last year, a year-on-year decrease of 14%;
• North American: BEVs (including heavy commercial BEVs) accounted for 6.4% of the total deliveries of the Volkswagen Group, lower than the 8.2% of the same period last year; among them, the BEV delivery volume in the US market was only 37,000 units, a significant decrease of 26.2% compared to 50,000 last year;
• China: The delivery volume of BEVs (including heavy commercial BEVs) reached 148,100 units, a significant increase of 26.5% compared to the same period last year, accounting for 7.2% of all vehicles delivered by the Volkswagen Group in the same period, higher than 5.1% last year;
• Other regions: In other regions such as South America, the delivery volume of pure electric vehicles increased from 23,000 units last year to 28,000 units, a growth of 21.4%.
Global Market Trend for Passenger Cars and Light Commercial Vehicles
Volkswagen also summarized the development trend of global and regional passenger cars and light commercial vehicles in the first nine months of this year. Overall, the global passenger car registration sales in the first nine months of this year increased by 1.2%, reaching 57.086 million units; the light commercial vehicle market size decreased by 3.7%, with registration sales of 5.771 million units.
From the perspective of passenger car market size: In the first nine months of this year, the passenger car registration sales in Central/Eastern Europe and South America grew faster year-on-year, reaching 13.5% and 5.2% respectively. In terms of specific countries, The passenger car sales growth in Brazil (+14.2%) and Poland (+13.8%) were the highest year-on-year, in addition, Mexico (+10.5%), Canada (+9.4%), Spain (+6.3%), China (+5.0%), and the UK (+4.3%) also showed relatively fast growth.
From the perspective of light commercial vehicles: The market size growth mainly came from Central/Eastern Europe (+10.8%) and Western Europe (+6.7%), among which the light commercial vehicle registration sales in the German domestic market increased significantly by +8.0% year-on-year.
Volkswagen Group Full-Year Outlook
According to the Volkswagen Group's full-year outlook released on September 27, 2024, the Volkswagen Group expects to deliver 9 million vehicles to customers throughout the year, slightly lower than the 9.24 million in 2023; among them, the proportion of BEVs is expected to be between 9% and 11%, that is, about 810,000 to 990,000 units.
The company also expects the group's sales revenue for 2024 to be about €320 billion, slightly lower than the annual sales revenue of €322.3 billion in 2023. In terms of operating profit, the company expects to reach about €18 billion for the whole year, with a profit margin of about 5.6%.
Arno Antlitz, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of the Volkswagen Group, said that the performance in the first nine months of this year reflects a challenging market environment. Volkswagen Brand reported an operating margin of only two percent after nine months, which “highlights the urgent need for significant cost reductions and efficiency gains”.
Due to the significant 46% pludge in profits in Q3 alone, falling to the lowest point in three years, Volkswagen Group has recently confirmed a 10% wage cut, with possible plans of plant closure and large layoffs.
