Volkswagen's Strong Performance Surprises Analysts

Volkswagen on July 23 provided more confirmation that emerging markets are propping up the European car industry. The German automaker registered sales decreases in Western Europe and North America but racked up solid gains in Latin America and Asia, helping to deliver a 22% increase in second-quarter operating profit, to $3.35 billion.

VW joined France's PSA Peugeot Citroën and Italy's Fiat in reporting earnings that defied pessimism about the global auto industry. Shares of all three companies surged as investors demonstrated a newfound interest in makers of smaller, fuel-efficient vehicles.

IamEvilHomer - 7/30/2008 5:11:00 PM

+3 Boost

good job VW

chewy - 7/30/2008 5:24:23 PM

+2 Boost

VW group make 3.4 billion euro profit in the first half of the year

EnnNorak - 7/30/2008 8:03:34 PM

+3 Boost

I'm not at all surprised. I recently bought a new loaded Passat to replace my leased 2004 A6 and the Passat is wonderful -- more rear legroom and seats that can only be beat by the S-class for comfort.

DieselRules - 8/1/2008 3:25:29 AM

+1 Boost

Chewy: no, not 1st half -- in 2nd quarter, AKA 3 months

caixa2 - 7/30/2008 5:56:44 PM

+5 Boost

This should read: Volkswagen's Strong Performance Surprises AmazinBimmer

aarononymous - 7/30/2008 8:32:43 PM

+2 Boost

hah, or better yet:

Volkswagen blah blah blah, amazinbimmer comment in 3...2...1...

sector - 7/30/2008 5:57:46 PM

-4 Boost

But what about all the repairs VW has to do under warranty?

atomicbri - 7/30/2008 10:34:09 PM

+4 Boost

What repairs? I have had a VW Rabbit for over a year now and with 27K miles and not one warranty repair and only one recall for some stupid plastic cap to go on the headlight aimers under the hood.... so I am not sure why you all continue to say new VWs are poorly built. Hell even Consumer Reports says the Rabbit is one of the best in class and is recommended.

Agent009 - 7/31/2008 8:19:08 AM

+2 Boost

atomicbri- I agree with you whole 100%. Those that claim VW's are unreliable have never owned one. They are falling victim from being sucked into JD Power and similar surveys that have little basis on real life.

Htay7500 - 7/31/2008 8:49:29 AM

0 Boost

the GTI is the only VW to consider. but the others look a bit feminine, almost toyota-like and overpriced.

Star - 7/31/2008 2:15:20 PM

+1 Boost

Htay7500,

Pull your head from your a** and see the light. VW sells cars in America for the same price Honda sells their trash. The Rabbit or Jetta are the same price as the Civic, the GTI is $1000 more than the torqueless, poorly built Civic SI the Passat offers a turbocharged engine for the price you get just a lowly 4 cylinder from Honda and so on. The amount of brainwashed sheep around here is terrifying.

Htay7500 - 7/31/2008 3:23:02 PM

+1 Boost

on VW.com, the VW passat sells for $23,990, honda.com says that the accord sells for $20,360. toyota.com, the camry is $18,920. thats overpriced.

gooch - 8/1/2008 7:41:15 AM

+1 Boost

And despite that, I'd still take the Passat. Character counts for a lot.

steve27t - 7/30/2008 7:36:02 PM

+3 Boost

I have a 2007 Passat and a 2008 Gti having had a 2006 Gti previously. The Passat had one electrical problem that was efficiently resolved and the 2 Golfs have/did not had any problems. Previoulsy I had 3 Audi A6's with only the 1st 2000 model 2.7t having any issues but handled under warranty with no problem. The subsequent 2.7t and 2006 3.2Q were perfect. Some of the comments here regarding VW and to some extent Audi reliability are ridiculous.

aarononymous - 7/30/2008 8:31:05 PM

+2 Boost

Sounds like a nice collection. All the big german car manufacturers have issues, VW/Audi are cmmited to improving, have made huge improvements. People who throw out these claims must have something against the companies and just rehash this late 90's crap because they got mothing else. Unfortunately it works because a lot of people who I meet think VW is an unreliable car. Either way they are moving up and are here to stay.

MadibaP - 7/31/2008 5:10:36 PM

+1 Boost

Yup! Now Merc on the other hand made REAL rubbish in the 90's and in 2002 were found to be the 4th LEAST reliable brand in the USA. (One survey in the UK even found them to be less reliable than Landrover!)

But the same idiots who thing VW are junk think Merc have always been top, when in fact VW have never sunk as low as Merc!

gooch - 7/31/2008 8:21:21 AM

+1 Boost

My first VW, a 1986 GTI, was a tank. A lightweight, fun and tossable tank, but rock-solid compared to my ex-wife's 88 Civic. My second VW, a 2001 GTI 1.8T, was a heavier tank, a little less wieldy, but had more issues than the first. The 01 had the window regulator problem and a bad spark plug. Other than that, it ran like a champ and VW handled the issues quickly and professionally. If I had not gotten my pre-owned Bimmer, I'd have an 07 GTI.

mpwr - 7/31/2008 8:50:19 AM

+1 Boost

Good job Vdub, hopefully there product will stay strong into the future. Does any one know if they will make the TDI golf available in the us again? With today's gas its seems ripe for that vehicle again. I have seen many posts of people getting close to 55-60 mpg.

mpwr - 7/31/2008 8:52:07 AM

+1 Boost

55-60 that is with the previous generation that is no longer epa legal

rhp1462 - 7/31/2008 8:51:24 AM

+1 Boost

i have a jetta wolfsburg edition. it is a wonderful car as i was use to be a proud audi owner and my gf was a big vw fan and forced me to get vw. and i m not dissapointed at all. what a great car. for 28000$ it feels more like a $48000 car. great car. no shit they did good

drake0707 - 7/31/2008 11:41:53 AM

+1 Boost

Quiz question, what is the "KdF Wagen"? And who came up with the term "Volkswagen"?

Htay7500 - 7/31/2008 1:05:18 PM

+2 Boost

in german, it means "the people's car".

dumpsty - 7/31/2008 1:59:44 PM

+1 Boost

I you think a minute, VW should be doing well in this current hostile environment. They have some good small and mid-sized vehicles with small, gas-sipping engines. And most people are generally happy with their V-Dub and keep them for long periods of time. Many of VW's luxury brands have been in the auto news lately, but their sales are much smaller in comparison to the VW core brands.

dumpsty - 7/31/2008 2:01:58 PM

0 Boost

"IF" you think for a minute....

Also, Hasn't Porsche been buying a lot of VW stock? They certainly isn't lowering their overall perception.

DieselRules - 8/1/2008 3:29:02 AM

+1 Boost

Not really news.
A year ago they were building 1 million cars/month and making 1 Billion profit/month.
Now they're making 1.1 Billion/month.

I guess being up 10% while everyone else is in the tank is newsworthy, but they've been on a steady growth trend for a long time (why do you think Porsche wanted to buy them? ... oh, and that little thing where the Q7 is stealing sales from the Cayenne but Porsche thought they were only going to sell the Touareg and not really compete against them ... I guess they're still PO'd about that)