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The toxic fallout from Volkswagen’s diesel scandal, providing a seemingly endless flow of juicy material for the world’s still spellbound media, also turned into a gift for main competitors and a hammer blow for Europe’s leading car brand
The torpedo, first unleashed when the scandal broke September 18th last year, hit the group’s flagship Volkswagen car brand well below the waterline.
The resulting damage?
Before exceptionals - aimed at plugging a gaping hole - a tell-tale
4th quarter operating loss of €127m.
That compares to a period of serene sailing during last year’s first three quarters, with the VW car brand still posting respective quarterly operating profits of €514m, €914m and €801m.
A measure of the severity of the crisis, last year’s €127m fourth quarter operating loss compares with a contrasting €780m fourth quarter operating profit the year
before.
Yesterday's delayed Volkswagen figures came less than a handful of hours before its rival
Ford surprised with a strikingly improved first quarter performance in Europe, with
first quarter pre-tax profits climbing to $434m from a contrasting $42m pre-tax loss during last year’s opening quarter.
As if to add salt to Volkswagen’s wounds, this year’s breakneck pace of advance from largely unchanged sales revenue in Europe, also stands out as Ford of Europe’s best quarterly profit since
2008...more
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