Volkswagen Group: operating profit 2006-2023
Scandal and recovery
Since the costly diesel scandal, Volkswagen’s reputation seems to have recovered and many performance indicators are now above pre-scandal figures. This is impressive considering that in both 2017 and 2018, the company had significant one-off costs related to the diesel scandal. The automotive industry in the United States may be struggling to sell new sedans, including about 80 percent of Volkswagen models, but VW has much larger markets in Europe and the Asia Pacific. The German car manufacturing group had suffered a major hit in 2015, after it came to light that many of its diesel engine vehicles did not meet U.S. clean air targets, and engines and test results had been tampered with. In an attempt to rectify the issue, the company announced they would spend 16.2 billion euros recalling and buying back vehicles, as well as implementing new equipment. As a result of their fraudulent activity, Volkswagen were given a 2.8 billion U.S. dollar fine from the United States with more private and governmental action lawsuits to be launched across the globe. In light of the scandal, the reputation of VW dropped substantially. Since then, the Volkswagen Group has been extensively investing in electric vehicles, ranking among the automotive manufactuters with the largest research and development spending.