The semiconductor crisis wiped almost €500m off Volkswagen’s pre-tax profits in the last quarter, as the German group struggled to produce enough cars to meet resurgent demand.
The world’s second-largest carmaker by volume said profits fell by almost 15 per cent in the three months to the end of September, to almost €3.1bn, compared with just over €3.6bn during the same period in 2019. It also warned that it would sell as few cars in 2021 as it did during the height of the pandemic last year. The group delivered just over 9.3m vehicles in 2020.
Semiconductor bottlenecks pushed down global car production by 18 per cent in the last quarter, when compared with the same period last year, according to UBS. But some of VW’s rivals have beaten Wall Street’s expectations anyway, with GM reporting on Wednesday that it would reach the “high end” of its earnings guidance for 2021.