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A further high-caliber expert has joined the international Sustainability Council founded by the Volkswagen Group. At its third meeting in Wolfsburg, Yongtu Long was appointed as a member of the Sustainability Council initiated by the Group Board of Management in the fall of 2016. Yongtu Long is one of China's leading political economists and diplomats, and has served in many posts, among them Chief Representative and Vice Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation in the negotiations for China's accession to the World Trade Organization.

The Volkswagen Group is seeking a leading role in sustainability in the automotive industry. "For a long time, Volkswagen was to be found at the top of prestigious sustainability indices – and we intend to reclaim that position", Matthias Müller, Chief Executive Officer of the Volkswagen Group, said at the start of the two-day Group Environmental Conference (GEC) in Wolfsburg. "It is our inherent mission as a Group to make a decisive contribution to mitigating climate change and improving air quality in urban centers."

How do people think? On what basis do they take decisions? And how can artificial intelligence help them in the future? These questions are being pursued by an international expert team at the Volkswagen Information Technology Center Munich (Data Lab). The team includes IT experts, robotics specialists, data scientists, programmers, physicists and mathematicians, all working hand in hand. Together, they are preparing Volkswagen for the future. On dozens of monitors, code lines, graphs and 3-D diagrams flash across the screen. What you can see here in machine language could help accelerate corporate processes, optimize traffic flows and guide autonomous vehicles safely through the traffic in the future.

The Volkswagen Group delivered 820,000 vehicles to customers in August, marking a 8.0 percent rise compared with August 2016. "August was a successful month for the Volkswagen Group that saw all core brands increase deliveries," said Fred Kappler, Head of Group Sales at Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft. "We are delighted to report that the scrappage premium has met with lively interest among entitled customers in Germany, with many switching to an up-to-date vehicle. In addition, particularly strong growth in the Central and Eastern Europe, South America and Asia-Pacific regions makes us optimistic for the second half year."

The Volkswagen Group is consistently developing its own vision of mobility as SEDRIC. The company is presenting its latest evolution stage of the SElf-DRIving Car at the preview night on the evening before the start of the International Motor Show (IAA) 2017 in Frankfurt/Main. In future, this car will form the platform for a diverse model family. SEDRIC is the first concept car from the Volkswagen Group and it symbolises the transformation of the company from a thoroughbred vehicle manufacturer to an integrated provider of hardware, software and digital mobility services. The concept for mobility of tomorrow combines fully automated driving at Level 5, electrification and digital networking. It permits simple, convenient, sustainable and safe mobility for everybody at the touch of a button. The Volkswagen Group will achieve this vision within the concept of urban mobility and in numerous other vehicle concepts from sports cars, through luxurious touring saloons to lightweight commercial vehicles and trucks.

The Volkswagen Group has handed over more than 5,98 million vehicles to customers (+1.3 percent) since the beginning of the year. 820,900 units were delivered in July, an increase of 4.3 percent. "The Volkswagen Group and its brands made a solid start to the second half-year. Tailwind for the positive development came above all from the South America and Asia-Pacific regions", Fred Kappler, Head of Group Sales at Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, commented. "We want to preserve and strengthen our customers' trust in our products", Kappler continued.

In the first half of 2017, Volkswagen Truck & Bus markedly increased both production at its Brazilian plants and sales of the vehicles built there. At 11,750 units, sales at Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus improved by 16%. Scania, which also produces in Brazil, raised its sales figures by nearly 30% to 2,441 units. With a market share of just under 38%, Volkswagen Truck & Bus again managed to maintain its position as market leader in trucks in Brazil. With more than 200 million inhabitants, Brazil is the largest market in the region. This is thanks to a product strategy targeted also at growing export markets in the region. Demand in Argentina and Chile, for example, has developed particularly positively as well as in other countries such as Mexico, Russia, and South Africa.

Today, the Volkswagen Group and its local partner SOVAC S.P.A. inaugurated their multi-brand joint venture SOVAC Production S.P.A. The inauguration ceremony took place in Relizane, 280 kilometers to the South-West of Algiers, in the presence of the Algerian Minister of Trade and representatives of the German, Spanish and Czech embassies. The assembly plant can produce up to 200 units of the models Volkswagen Golf, Volkswagen Caddy, SEAT Ibiza and ŠKODA Octavia per day. From 2018, the Volkswagen Polo and ŠKODA Fabia are to be added to the local production portfolio.

The Volkswagen Group remains in robust shape: The first six months of the current fiscal year have delivered a solid set of results, accompanied by further progress in implementing the future program "TOGETHER – Strategy 2025". Between the beginning of January and the end of June, Group sales revenue rose by 7.3 percent to EUR 115.9 billion. During that period, operating profit increased to EUR 8.9 billion (from 7.5 in the previous year) and operating return on sales grew to 7.7 percent (from the prior-year 7.0 percent). All prior-year figures exclude the special items at that time. For Frank Witter, Member of the Board of Management, responsible for Finance and Controlling, the result of the first six months was a "good team performance" in the face of persistently difficult conditions. "The results were boosted by growth in unit sales. Increases in the first half-year were seen primarily in Europe, but also in North and South America, which is particularly encouraging. The successful placement of a hybrid bond also had a positive effect on net liquidity in the Automotive Division and underlined the confidence investors place in our strategy. I am firmly convinced that our financial footing is adequate to cope with the transformation in the automotive industry and topics of the future."

The Board of Management of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft informed the Supervisory Board about the current situation regarding possible cartel law issues on Wednesday. The Volkswagen Group has no comment to make at the present time on details of these issues or on speculation which has among other things become the subject of public debate. As a general principle, discussing the feasibility as well as the standardization of technical solutions and safety standards with respect to new technologies where regulatory approaches are still pending is in many instances necessary and valid. Furthermore, as a general principle Volkswagen works very closely with the authorities in a spirit of cooperation and trust.