Volkswagen Group posts record sales for 2016 despite diesel scandal

With the diesel emission-cheating scandal it faced, the Volkswagen Group has made a positive comeback with upright performance over the past year. With this, sales went up by €4.0 billion (around P211.7 billion) to €217.3 billion (about P11.5 trillion), while its operating result went up by 14% at €14.6 billion (P772.7 billion). 

The Group's new structure with more decentralized responsibility will strengthen our brands and regions and increase our proximity to customers. We will become faster and more focused and efficient. This will enable us to make much more focused use of the strengths of our multibrand group and its potential for synergies," said CEO Matthias Müller. 

As a review, it was last November 2016 when the German marque decided to cut 30,000 jobs globally to save €3.7 billion (P195.9 billion). Yet, in spite the decline in figures following the said diesel emission scandal, Volkswagen has delivered 10.3 million units worldwide in the last fiscal year. This does not only mark its target for 2016, it also was a new record.

Furthermore, its main contributing factor is the increase in the Western and Central European markets, as well as in the Asia-Pacific region. Last year, Volkswagen's earnings were positive, with its before and after tax record of €7.3 billion (P387.1 billion) and €5.4 billion (P286.6 billion) respectively. Meanwhile, net liquidity in the Automotive Division was also up with €2.7 billion (P143.2 billion). 

The CEO sees that with the future project of the company "Together – Strategy 2025" will focus more to bringing importance to the environment, safety, and society, which could be a punch back to the recent issues. Additionally, the company also eyes for stronger rates of expansion in the emerging economies in Asia, and a slightly higher growth for 2017's global economy. 

Of note, the locally available Volkswagen models were not affected by the diesel scandal. Volkswagen PH said that all vehicles “distributed and sold” by the company “comply with Philippine emissions regulations and standards.”    

Moreover, Volkswagen was crowned as Philippines’ top European car brand with 1,060 units sold in 2016. At the same time, Volkswagen has overtaken Toyota as the world’s best-selling automaker last year, recording 10.3 million vehicles sold worldwide.