VW quarterly results plunge on US tariffs, EU carbon rules, restructuring

Volkswagen said the uncertainty caused by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs was among the factors leading its operating results to plunge to €2.8bn (R59.15bn) in the first quarter from €4.6bn (R97.28bn) last year.

Results at Europe’s largest carmaker came in far short of market expectations of about €4bn (R48.6bn).

The carmaker has halted rail shipments of vehicles from Mexico as a result of uncertainty surrounding Trump’s tariffs and is holding at port cars arriving from Europe.

The company confirmed its full-year outlook of up to 5% sales growth and operating return on sales of between 5.5% and 5.6% but said in its results statement that these forecasts excluded the possible impact of tariffs since it was too early to assess their impact.

It remains unclear what further impact Trump’s Wednesday evening announcement of a 90-day pause on some tariffs will have.

Adjustments to provisions for the diesel issue and the valuation of vehicles in transit in connection with US tariffs took €300m (R6.34bn) from the operating result, the company said.

Provisions for Europe’s carbon regulations cost €600m (R12.69bn) — though this cost may be lifted once new EU regulations are finalised. Restructuring of VW’s software unit cost another €200m (R4.2bn).

Groups sales rose about 3% to €78bn (R1.65-trillion)