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Germany’s Volkswagen on Tuesday reiterated its determination to use US sales growth to offset sliding sales in China and Europe, despite the threat of looming tariffs.
Chief executive Oliver Blume underlined Volkswagen’s commitment to grow in the US in remarks to reporters after the company announced full-year results for 2024 and said it expected profit margins for 2025 to remain broadly flat.
The Volkswagen Group had a market share of just 4 per cent in the US, Blume said, compared with about 25 per cent across the EU.
“Our intention is to continue investing [in the US],” Blume told reporters on Tuesday. VW had “a lot of potential in the market”, he said of the US.
The renewed push marks the latest of several attempts by Volkswagen to build a substantial US market share. The most recent, during which the company built a vehicle production facility in Chattanooga, Tennessee, ended in the scandal over faked emissions data from diesel-engine vehicles. The affair not only cost the company more than €30bn in fines and legal fees, but a great deal of consumer trust.
The company’s current move faces potential disruption from threatened tariffs of 25 per cent on imports from Mexico, Canada and Europe — all regions where VW has significant production capacity. The carmaker is building a €4.8bn battery cell factory in the Canadian province of Ontario, which was expected to supply future electric vehicles sold in the US.
“We will have to wait and see how things develop,” said Blume when asked about the future of the plant. He added that plans for tariffs remained unclear given that US car manufacturers were also likely to be harmed.
“I think that will put the discussions into perspective,” he said.
For 2025, VW told investors to expect an operating return on sales — a measure of operating profit — of between 5.5 and 6.5 per cent, compared with 5.9 per cent for 2024. Fourth-quarter operating profit fell 2.1 per cent from a year earlier to €6.1bn.
Shares in VW were up 1.7 per cent at lunchtime on Tuesday as both the quarterly result and guidance beat market expectations.
Tom Narayan, analyst at RBC Capital Markets, said: “Management is guiding for flattish 2025 earnings before interest and tax margins and that is impressive given the higher battery electric vehicle sales expected to come in 2025.”
The company has in recent years suffered sharp falls in sales in Europe and in China — its most important market — which have prompted it to cut production capacity drastically to reduce costs.
The declines have made it still more vital that the company succeeds in its aim to grow in the US. Arno Antlitz, VW’s chief financial officer, said on Tuesday: “We want to grow in the US . . . that is our plan and we’re sticking to it.”
Antlitz said he was particularly excited about the VW’s revival of the iconic pick-up brand Scout, which will be launched in an electric form in 2027.
The carmaker last year said it wanted to double its US market share with brands including Audi and Porsche to 10 per cent by 2030, while it aimed to increase the share of the VW brand alone to 5 per cent.
