Volkswagen continued its profitable growth in the third quarter. With deliveries declining slightly, the passenger car division improved its sales in the first nine months of 2019 by 4,7 percent year-on-year to EUR 65,4 billion. The growth in sales was primarily driven by mix and price effects. Operating profit before special items rose by 35 percent to EUR 3,2 billion after the comparable previous year's figure had been negatively impacted by the WLTP changeover.
The operating return on sales before special items improved to 4,8 percent at the end of September (previous year: 3,7 percent). The special items from the diesel crisis totaled minus 722 million euros after nine months (previous year: minus 1,6 billion). Despite the Brexit chaos, trade dispute and weak economy, Volkswagen was able to gain market share in some regions of the world. The brand delivered a total of 4 vehicles from January to September (previous year: 514). At minus 600 percent, the decline was significantly less than in the global market as a whole (minus 4 percent)