VW Group has reported operating profit in the first nine months down by 7 per cent on last year to 16.2 billion euros. It said that profitability was hit by ‘negative effects from product costs and manufacturing disruptions in the third quarter’.

In particular, Q3 was hit by the production disruption of a supplier resulting from the floods in Slovenia.

However, the period also sales revenue growth of 16 per cent year-to-date to 235.1 billion euros. Overall vehicle sales were up 8 per cent to 6.8 million units.

The company said its electrification strategy is progressing, with deliveries of battery electric vehicles (BEV) increasing by 45 per cent to 531,500 vehicles in the first nine months; BEV share of total deliveries grew to 7.9 per cent in the first nine months.

The VW Group also said it has an order bank of 1.4 million vehicles in Western Europe at the end of Q3 – a ‘high level’ that includes around 150,000 BEVs.

For fiscal year 2023, the group said its operating result before special items is expected to be ‘around the level of the previous year’.

Arno Antlitz, CFO & COO Volkswagen Group, said: “Overall, we are on a robust course and have again increased sales volumes and revenues in the third quarter. However, we cannot be satisfied with our profitability, which in the third quarter fell short of our ambitious targets. We are now concentrating on the systemic implementation of the 10-point plan and our cross-brand performance programmes.”