Volkswagen's 2Q, 1st half net soars
Europe's biggest automaker by sales, Volkswagen AG, said that its sales were boosted by cost-cutting efforts at home in Germany in the second quarter and first six months of 2007, and that profit results showed better than expected sales in Europe and China.
The company based in Wolfsburg earned 1.22 billion euros in the second quarter, which represents up 42 percent from the 859 million euros that it posted a year earlier. Compared with 26.56 billion euros last year, sales rose 6.2 percent to 28.21 billion euros ($38.71 billion). In the first half of the year the company earned 1.96 billion euros ($2.69 billion), which is up 65 percent from nearly 1.2 billion euros a year earlier. Because of growing demand in Europe and Asia, six-month sales rose 5.7 percent to 54.8 billion euros ($75.2 billion) from 51.8 billion euros last year, along with the high demand for new luxury sedans by Audi AG. The company said small car sales by its Spanish unit SEAT and the Czech car marker Skoda were also stronger. Volkswagen shares rose 2.1 percent to 123.13 euros ($168.96) in Frankfurt trading. The increase came along with the replacement of former chief executive Bernd Pischetsrieder, with Martin Winterkorn, whom has kept up the changes. They included the 20 percent cut in its German labor force and an agreement for employees to work an additional 4.2 hours per week without extra pay. Martin Winterkorn, the former head of Volkswagen's Audi division, and became CEO at the beginning of this year, oversaw earlier this year the reorganization of the company's brands into new units, with Audi, Bentley, Bugatti and Lamborghini in one group and VW, Seat and Skoda in another. Volkswagen expects to reach a pretax profit of 5.1 billion euros ($7 billion) this year, beating its previous estimates of such a goal in 2008 for the first time. It also expects 2007 sales results to be better than the 104.9 billion euros it reported in 2006. The company said that the increase in unit sales and the continuous optimization of cost structures will lead to a sustainable improvement in competitiveness and our earnings power.
- Rabbit: among '2009 Top 10 Coolest New Cars Under $18,000' by KBB
- Volkswagen participates in national hydrogen road tour
- Tiguan launched in Russia
- Volkswagen prepared Scirocco for Nurbourgring
- Volkswagen installs Electronic Stabilization Program across the line in 2009
- Volkswagen sales in China up 29 percent
- Volkswagen eyes a 20 percent stake in troubled automaker Proton
- Volkswagen's 2Q, 1st half net soars
- Proton shares down as carmaker moves closer to a deal with Volkswagen
- Ford's China 2007 vehicle shipments seen up 30 pct
- Debut at NAIAS: 2008 Nissan Rogue Crossover SUV
- Renault Magnum shifts dimensions in 2008
- NAIAS Debut: 2007 Toyota Tundra CrewMax full-size pickup
- Opel Astra: More powerful and over 13 percent more economical
- Renault Megane F1 Team R26 in Depth
- Opel Corsa OPC world premiere in Geneva
- 2009 Honda Civic lineup receives new exterior styling
- New 2008 Dodge Viper SRT10 at NAIAS
- Volvo XC60 Concept at NAIAS
- Renault Megane Renault Sport dCi debut at Geneva