Successful 2017 for VW

Volkswagen outperformed targets in 2017 selling 6.23 million vehicles and improving sales revenue to €80bn proclaiming it as ‘a successful financial year’.

For the first time in five years, the operating result before special items increased, reaching the highest level since 2012, at €3.3bn. The return on sales (before special items) improved from 1.8% in 2016 to 4.1%.

‘2017 demonstrated the strength of Volkswagen and its employees. We have turned the trend around and become significantly more competitive in all areas. The implementation of our Transform 2025+ strategy is making good progress and achieving marked results. From the Zukunftspakt via the SUV offensive to the regional strategies, all initiatives are contributing to good developments at Volkswagen. We intend to use this momentum and to force the pace in the implementation of our strategy in 2018,’ said Dr Herbert Diess, CEO of the Volkswagen brand.

Looking ahead, in 2018 Volkswagen will further intensify preparations for its electric offensive. The new Board of Management division ‘E-Mobility’, headed by Thomas Ulbrich, pools the electric activities of the brand and firmly links this key topic of the future to the Board of Management.

From 2020, the Volkswagen brand plans to introduce an entirely new generation of full electric cars based on the modular electrification toolkit (MEB). Preparations for this offensive are proceeding to schedule. With an investment of about €1bn, the brand will transform the Zwickau plant into the European competence centre for e-mobility and will produce all the MEB vehicles for the European market there. In future, up to 1,500 MEB vehicles per day are to roll off the production line at the plant. Other competence centres are planned in China and North America.

‘With TRANSFORM 2025+, we have set out to safeguard the future viability of Volkswagen. Following a good start, we will now force the pace. Our electric strategy is proceeding to schedule. If we keep up the present pace, I am confident that 2018 will be a good year for Volkswagen and that the long-term transformation of the brand will be successful,’ said Herbert Diess.