Brands and Business Fields

GROUP STRUCTURE

The Volkswagen Group consists of two divisions: the Automotive Division and the Financial Services Division. The Automotive Division comprises the Passenger Cars, Commercial Vehicles and Power Engineering Business Areas. We report on the Passenger Cars segment and the reconciliation in the Passenger Cars Business Area. The Commercial Vehicles Business Area and Power Engineering Business Area correspond to the segments of the same name. Accordingly, the activities of the Automotive Division comprise the development of vehicles and engines, the production and sale of passenger cars, light commercial vehicles, trucks, buses and motorcycles, as well as the genuine parts, large-bore diesel engines, turbomachinery, special gear units, propulsion components and testing systems businesses. The Ducati brand is allocated to the Audi brand and thus to the Passenger Cars Business Area. The Financial Services Division, which corresponds to the Financial Services segment, combines dealer and customer financing, leasing, banking and insurance activities, fleet management and the mobility offerings.

In this chapter, we present the key volume and financial data relating to the Group brands and to Volkswagen Financial Services. In light of the considerable importance of the development of business in China for the Volkswagen Group and the continuing growth in the world’s largest single market, we also report on business developments and the results of our activities in China in this chapter.

The production figures and deliveries to customers are presented separately by brand and their models, i.e. by product line. Unit sales figures refer to models sold by the various brand companies, including vehicles from other Group brands. In some cases, there are marked differences between delivery figures and unit sales as a result of our business development in China.

In addition, we explain unit sales and sales revenue in the Europe/Other markets, North America, South America and Asia-Pacific regions.

KEY FIGURES BY MARKET

Fiscal year 2016 was affected especially by the diesel issue. In particular, charges as a result of legal risks led to special items totaling €−7.5 (−16.9) billion. At €14.6 (12.8) billion, the operating profit before special items was up on the prior-year level.

The market remained challenging for the Volkswagen Group in the 2016 fiscal year, and competition was fierce. Unit sales reached a new record of 10.4 (10.0) million vehicles. Sales revenue rose by 1.9% to €217.3 billion.

In the Europe/Other markets region, we sold 4.6 million vehicles. This was 2.5% more than in the previous year. Due to volume and mix effects, sales revenue rose by 4.2% to €138.1 billion. Exchange rate effects had a negative impact.

In North America, higher demand in Mexico lifted sales of Group vehicles by 2.9% to 1.0 million units. Due to exchange rate developments, sales revenue fell by 0.2% year-on-year to €35.5 billion.

The economic environment in the markets of the South America region remained difficult in the reporting year. The Volkswagen Group sold 0.4 million vehicles there (– 22.1%). The lower volume was combined with negative exchange rate effects, resulting in a 21.4% fall in sales revenue to €8.0 billion.

In the Asia-Pacific region, sales of Group models – including the Chinese joint ventures – in fiscal year 2016 amounted to 4.4 (4.0) million vehicles. At €35.8 billion, sales revenue exceeded the prior-year figure by 1.5%. Currency effects had a negative impact. This figure does not include the sales revenue generated by our Chinese joint ventures, since these are accounted for using the equity method.