VW Sees Intensifying Headwind Amid Recovery From Diesel Woes
- Margin target reaffirmed at level below first-half results
- Volkswagen sees ‘challenges’ from diesel, intense competition
A new Tiguan sports utility vehicle (SUV), produced by Volkswagen AG (VW), left, is transported on an elevation platform as new VW automobiles sit in storage bays inside one of the automaker's glass delivery towers at the VW factory in Wolfsburg, Germany, on Tuesday, March 14, 2017. Volkswagen sought to draw a line under the diesel scandal that has locked it in crisis mode for more than a year, with sweeping restructuring efforts starting to take hold and profitability improving at the namesake auto brand.
Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/BloombergVolkswagen AG indicated that the second half of 2017 will be tougher amid intense competition, wobbly economies and continuing fallout from the diesel-emissions scandal nearly two years after the cheating revelations emerged.
While the German automaker slightly upgraded its full-year revenue forecast to growth of more than 4 percent, the outlook for its 2017 operating profit margin remained unchanged at a range of 6 percent to 7 percent. Both guidance figures are below the levels reported in the first half, with the operating profit at 7.7 percent and revenue jumping 7.3 percent.