All Press Releases

TRATON GROUP and Chinese CNHTC Group announced a further expansion of their long-term partnership today. MAN and Sinotruk have been working together highly successfully since 2009 and have agreed to broaden this cooperation by establishing a joint venture to localize a MAN heavy-duty truck in China and evaluating and intensifying technology and procurement cooperation. Since the beginning of the partnership, MAN has held a 25% stake plus one share in Sinotruk, one of the leading heavy-duty truck manufacturers in China.

Volkswagen is pushing forward preparations for a potential Initial Public Offering (IPO) of TRATON GROUP. Further steps to this end were decided by the Volkswagen AG Supervisory Board in today’s meeting. TRATON GROUP will now strengthen the team preparing a potential IPO with external experts. For this purpose, investment banks and legal advisors will be mandated in a timely manner.

The Volkswagen Group is presenting its activities in the intelligent transport of people and goods at the 25th ITS World Congress in Copenhagen (17 – 21 September 2018). As a member of ERTICO – ITS Europe, a network of more than 100 partners, the Group and its brands are partnering actively with cities to implement concrete projects shaping urban mobility – from Järfälla near Stockholm through Hamburg and Barcelona to Somerville in the USA. E-mobility, autonomous driving, digitalisation and connectivity of all transport systems and new mobility services are important levers to make the mobility of people and goods in cities more sustainable, more efficient, cleaner and safer.

August was a successful month for the Volkswagen Group: Group brands delivered a total of 875,300 vehicles to customers, a rise of 6.8 percent. Europe was the region with the strongest growth: 327,700 vehicles were handed over to customers there, an increase of 21.0 percent compared with August 2017. The strong performance in August continued the Volkswagen Group’s dynamic development since the beginning of the year. However, Head of Group Sales Fred Kappler expects deliveries in September and October to be lower as a result of the changeover from the NEDC to the WLTP test procedure. “We are doing everything we can to catch up on delivery delays as fast as possible”, Fred Kappler said. “Positive business so far this year will help us cushion the effects of the WLTP changeover.”

Dr. Christian Dahlheim, currently Member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Financial Services AG with responsibility for Sales, has been appointed Head of Group Sales effective October 1, 2018. He succeeds Fred Kappler, who is taking retirement. The Chairman of Volkswagen Financial Services AG, Lars Henner Santelmann, will assume responsibility for Dahlheim’s current function in addition to his own duties.

As of today, one of the world’s leading transportation groups has a new brand identity: Volkswagen Truck & Bus AG has become TRATON AG.

In today’s meeting, the management of Volkswagen Truck & Bus AG (soon transforming into TRATON AG) has resolved the extraordinary termination of the domination and profit transfer agreement (BGAV) with MAN SE, dated April 26, 2013, with effect from January 1, 2019.

The Volkswagen Group and its brands continued on their growth path at the start of the second half-year. Deliveries in July rose 10.6 percent to 908,200 new vehicles. Over 6.4 million vehicles have been handed over to customers since the beginning of the year – 7.5 percent higher than the comparable period in 2017. “July was a strong month for the Group with all brands reporting clear gains. This is to some extent due to a one-off effect – namely the brands’ special sales programs for NEDC vehicles”, Fred Kappler, Head of Group Sales at Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, said. “Looking ahead, the challenges remain. We are working flat out to keep the anticipated effects of the new WLTP testing procedure in the coming months as low as possible”, Kappler added.

Volkswagen Truck & Bus has remained firmly on its growth trajectory and achieved a substantial increase in the sale of its commercial vehicles* in the first half of 2018. MAN Truck & Bus, Scania, and Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus sold 112,130 vehicles, equivalent to a considerable improvement of 16% for the Group in a year-on-year comparison. Volkswagen Truck & Bus is making great strides in the implementation of its Global Champion strategy. The Company’s transformation into a stock corporation, which took place in June 2018, and the imminent name change to TRATON AG represent further key milestones.

The Volkswagen Group continued its profitable growth course in the first half of 2018, post-ing record figures for deliveries, sales revenue and earnings (before special items). In the period from January to June, Group sales revenue rose from EUR 115.3 billion to EUR 119.4 billion year-on-year. Operating profit before special items increased from EUR 8.9 billion to EUR 9.8 billion, however, expenditures of EUR 1.6 billion in connection with the diesel crisis were recognized in the second quarter. The operating return on sales before special items rose from 7.7 to 8.2 percent. The Group’s profit after tax for the first six months was up 2.1 percent year-on-year to EUR 6.6 billion.“ The Volkswagen Group per-formed successfully in the first half of the year, with very solid growth in sales revenue and earnings. We also delivered more vehicles than ever before,” said Dr. Herbert Diess, CEO of Volkswagen AG, commenting on the results for the first six months. “However, we cannot rest on our laurels because great challenges lie ahead of us in the coming quarters – especial-ly regarding the transition to the new WLTP test procedure. Growing protectionism also poses major challenges for the globally integrated automotive industry.”