Volkswagen has been warning things were looking bad and their third quarter results confirm that. Their profits plunged 41.7% in Q3 and are down 20.5% for the year. The automaker blamed the poor result on a variety of issues including a challenging macroeconomic environment, high fixed costs, and resistance to EVs. The Volkswagen Group has revealed their third quarter earnings and there’s no sugar coating things as it was a brutal three months. Compared to this time last year, sales dropped 8.
CFO Arno Antlitz noted the Volkswagen Brand had an operating margin of only two percent after nine months. This highlights the urgent need for significant cost reductions and efficiency gains.” The Group’s EV push has also stalled as the automaker confirmed “industry-wide buyer reluctance” to electric vehicles. This is a huge problem for a company that has embraced EVs and Volkswagen said the sentiment helped push electric vehicle deliveries 4.7% lower than a year ago.