WOLFSBURG (dpa-AFX) - Europe's largest car manufacturer is presenting its balance sheet for the first half of the year today (9.00 a.m.). Group CEO Oliver Blume and CFO Arno Antlitz will present the figures for January to June. Just three weeks ago, the Group cut its targets for the year as a whole. Instead of 7.0 to 7.5 percent of sales, only 6.5 to 7.0 percent of sales are now to be retained by the Volkswagen Group as operating profit, i.e. 6.50 to 7.00 euros profit from 100 euros sales.

Audi in particular is burdened. Due to the weak demand for the Q8 e-tron e-model, the VW subsidiary is now considering discontinuing production of the model in Brussels ahead of schedule. The plant could be closed. Added to this are the costs of the ongoing job cuts at the core Volkswagen brand of around 900 million.

Up to 454,700 euros in severance pay

As part of its cost-cutting program, the Wolfsburg-based core brand wants to reduce administrative personnel costs by 20 percent and launched a new redundancy program in the spring. According to media reports, those made redundant at short notice were offered between 67,700 and 454,700 euros in severance pay, depending on their seniority. At the end of May, when the deadline for the increased "turbo bonus" expired, 50 percent of the planned severance budget had already been planned, according to reports at the time.

The failed sale of the MAN subsidiary's gas turbine business is also putting pressure on earnings. The German government had banned the planned sale to China for security reasons, and VW now wants to close the gas turbine business.

Weak business in China weighs on earnings

The Group is also struggling with weak demand for new vehicles. In the first half of the year, deliveries fell by 0.6 percent to 4.35 million vehicles, as the Group had already announced in mid-July. Business is particularly weak in China, where the VW Group sells a good third of all its cars. There was also a dip in sales of electric cars. In the first half of the year, the Group delivered 317,200 e-models worldwide, 4,400 fewer than in the same period in 2023. So far, the Group expects sales figures to pick up in the second half of the year.

Audi and Porsche with weak figures

The subsidiaries Audi, Porsche and Traton with the truck brands MAN and Scania had already presented their figures for the first half of the year last week. While sales and profits rose at Traton thanks to a high order backlog, Audi and Porsche reported declining figures. A weak start to the year was the main reason for this at both companies. In the months from April to June, things improved somewhat for both. The two premium brands are traditionally the most important profit drivers in the VW Group./fjo/DP/zb