Group sales increased by more than a fifth to 76 billion euros and thus rose significantly faster than deliveries, which grew by 7.5 percent. The car company made up for a drop in sales in China, the Wolfsburg-based company’s largest single market, with a strong increase in Western Europe and North America. With a return before valuation effects of 9.3 percent, the group sees itself on course to its annual targets. “With this solid performance and an order backlog of 1.8 million vehicles at the end of the first quarter, we are confirming our outlook for the 2023 financial year,” said CFO Arno Antlitz, who also heads the Group’s operational business.
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In terms of brands, the previously weakening volume group with VW, Skoda, Seat and the van division stood out in particular. Their earnings doubled to a good 1.7 billion euros. In the Premium brand group with Audi, on the other hand, the operating result was halved due to commodity hedging transactions. The high-yield sports car subsidiary Porsche drew its own circles with an operating profit increase of more than 25 percent. The software division Cariad, in which the software for the new electric cars is developed, posted a loss of 429 (previous year: minus 416) million euros due to high start-up costs.