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VW quarterly results plunge on US tariffs, EU carbon rules, restructuring

Volkswagen said its group sales rose around 3% to €78 billion in the first quarter of the year
Volkswagen said its group sales rose around 3% to €78 billion in the first quarter of the year

Volkswagen said the uncertainty caused by US President Donald Trump's tariffs was among the factors leading its operating results to plunge to €2.8 billion in the first quarter from €4.6 billion last year.

Results at Europe's largest carmaker came in far short of market expectations of around €4 billion.

The car maker has halted rail shipments of vehicles from Mexico as a result of uncertainty surrounding Trump's tariffs and is holding cars arriving from Europe at port.

The company confirmed its full-year outlook of up to 5% sales growth and operating return on sales of between 5.5% and 5.6% but said in its results statement that these forecasts excluded the possible impact of tariffs since it was too early to assess their impact.

It remains unclear what further impact Trump's announcement of a 90-day pause yesterday on some tariffs will have.

Adjustments to provisions for the diesel issue and the valuation of vehicles in transit in connection with US tariffs took €300m from the operating result, the company said.

Provisions for Europe's carbon regulations cost €600m - though this cost may be lifted once new EU regulations are finalised.

Restructuring of VW's software unit cost another €200m.

The company said its group sales rose around 3% to €78 billion.