German auto giant Volkswagen posts €1.07 billion third-quarter loss

German auto giant Volkswagen on Thursday reported a net loss of €1.072 billion ($1.25 billion) for its third quarter, with challenges at its Porsche subsidiary a major cause for the parent company’s struggles.

Over the first nine months of 2025, the VW group’s net profit shrank more than 60% to €3.4 billion from €8.8 billion a year earlier, weighed down by charges of €7.5 billion.

These included higher tariffs, changes to Porsche’s product strategy and goodwill impairments at the sports car unit, chief financial officer Arno Antlitz said in a statement. Porsche-related adjustments and write-downs alone accounted for €4.7 billion of the hit.

“Excluding these charges, the group operating margin is 5.4% – at first glance a respectable figure in the current economic environment,” Antlitz said.

The group saw revenue rise 0.6% in the first nine months to €239 billion, while deliveries increased 1.2% to 6.6 million vehicles.

Luxury carmaker Porsche reported a deep third-quarter loss last week, weighed down by billions in costs from its recent strategy shift to extend combustion-engine production.

The unit posted almost €1 billion in losses in the third quarter, while its earnings after tax for the first nine months plunged by almost 96%, weighing on parent Volkswagen.

The long-struggling core VW passenger car unit continued to improve, with its operating margin for the first nine months rising slightly to 2.3%.

Performance benefited from a cost-cutting programme that includes planned job cuts numbering in the tens of thousands.

By 2030, more than 35,000 positions — nearly a quarter of the 130,000 jobs in Germany — are set to be cut at VW.