The weak European car market and fierce competition dragged VW Group’s net profit down in 2013 by 58% to EUR9bn.
However, overall sales rose 2.2% to EUR197bn, helped by a sharp increase in sales at Porsche sports cars, the beginning of a market turnaround in Europe and continued strong growth in China.
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Volkswagen sales in China crossed the three million vehicles threshold for the first time last year.
The VW Group’s operating profit in 2013 rose slightly to a record EUR11.7bn. Deliveries grew by 4.9% last year to 9.7m vehicles (9.3m in 2012) and VW said that it is aiming to exceed 10m deliveries in 2014.
VW Group CEO Martin Winterkorn was cautious on the outlook for 2014.
“We are expecting a moderate increase in deliveries”, he said. “Challenges for the Volkswagen Group will come from the difficult market environment and fierce competition, as well as interest rate and exchange rate volatility and fluctuations in raw materials prices.”
