The Volkswagen Group’s profits grew in 2021, despite a significant decrease in vehicle sales exacerbated by semiconductor shortages and the pandemic.
The firm, whose car brands include Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda and Seat, sold a total of 8.6 million vehicles in 2021, a drop of 6.3% year on year and 2.3 million fewer than in pre-pandemic 2019.
In contrast, the group’s sales revenue rose 12.3% to €250.9 billion (£209.4bn) and operating profit almost doubled to €20 billion (£16.4bn). Overall earnings for the group before tax increased by 72.5% to €20.1bn (£16.8bn).
“Over the past two years, we have learned to better mitigate the impact of crises on our company,” said Volkswagen Group chief financial officer Arno Antlitz. “I