German car giant Volkswagen said Wednesday it was confident of hitting financial targets despite a lower unit sales outlook, warning "vehicle markets will contract faster than previously anticipated in many regions". The Wolfsburg-based group now expects deliveries to match 2018's level, rather than the slight growth forecast until now, after unit sales fell 1.5 percent in the year to September at around eight million.
A global growth slowdown triggered by trade wars and Brexit uncertainty has hit the car industry particularly hard, while VW's Asian sales were dragged down by a three-percent fall in the vital Chinese market. "The best of the party is over" for the car sector, finance chief Frank Witter told journalists in a telephone conference.
Worldwide demand has fallen around five percent, Witter said, prompting VW to slash its production plans for this year by 900,000 vehicles. But in January-September, net profits at the group grew 19 percent, to 11.2 billion euros ($12.5 billion). Sales income added 6.9 percent, reaching 186.6 billion euros, making for an operating profit up 24.5 percent, at 13.5 billion.
The group suffered lower charges related to the company's "dieselgate" emissions cheating scandal dating back to 2015. In January-September 2018, the diesel burden reached 2.4 billion euros, falling to 1.3 billion over the same period this year. A major element in 2019's total was a 535-million-euro fine Stuttgart prosecutors issued in May to sports car subsidiary Porsche over so-called "defeat devices", designed to cheat regulatory emissions tests.
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