German auto giant Volkswagen booked yesterday its first quarterly loss in more than 15 years in the wake of the global pollution-cheating scandal which also forced it to lower its full-year forecasts.
VW said initial provisions related to its admission that it had fitted 11mn diesel vehicles worldwide with sophisticated software to skew emissions tests pushed it deeply into the red in the period from July to September.
But the group also warned of further “considerable financial charges” related to legal proceedings over the scam, over which it is the subject of criminal probes in a handful of countries.
Chief financial officer Frank Witter told a conference call with analysts that the scandal, which broke in September, had “significantly impacted business in third quarter.”
It was “far too early to calculate the cost of any legal measures,” Witter said. “The financial burden will be enormous, but manageable.”
It faces a fine of up to $18bn from the US Environmental Protection Agency alone.
Volkswagen, which has just been overtaken by Toyota as the world’s biggest carmaker in terms of sales, said it ran up a net loss of €1.673bn ($1.85bn) in the three-month period, compared with a profit of €2.971bn a year earlier.
That was still better than analysts had expected: according to Factset, consensus forecasts had put the anticipated net loss at €2.11bn.
The losses were due to a charge of €6.7bn VW took to cover the initial costs of the scandal, primarily a recall of all affected vehicles beginning in January.
Excluding that provision, operating profit would have remained stable at €3.2bn in the three-month period, VW said.
