Crain News Service and wire reports
FRANKFURT (Oct. 28, 2015) — Volkswagen Group slumped to a third-quarter operating loss over costs related to its rigging of diesel emissions tests, its first quarterly deficit in more than 15 years.
The company posted a 3.48 billion-euro ($3.84 billion) third-quarter operating loss, compared with a 3.23 billion-euro profit a year ago.
The cheating scandal accounted 6.7 billion euros in special costs in the third quarter — more than the 6.5 billion euros it originally set aside, VW said Oct. 28. Sales revenue rose 5.3 percent to 51.49 billion euros.
“The figures show the core strength of the Volkswagen Group on the one hand, while on the other the initial impact of the current situation is becoming clear,” CEO Matthias Mueller said in a statement.
The auto maker is bracing for costs that analysts have estimated could total from 20 billion euros to as much as 78 billion euros.
VW shares rose 3.3 percent to 108.6 euros at 9:12 a.m. in Frankfurt. Volkswagen has lost some 21 billion euros in market capitalization since the scandal became public on Sept. 18.
The company said full-year operating group profit will come in “significantly below” year-ago levels because of costs related to the emissions scandal.
VW stuck to its guidance for full-year deliveries to be on a par with last year's record 10.14 million auto sales.
Reuters and Bloomberg contributed to this report, which appeared on the website of Automotive News, a Detroit-based sister publication of Tire Business.