BERLIN, July 28 (Xinhua) -- Volkswagen Group increased its earnings after tax by 25.8 percent year-on-year to 10.6 billion euros (10.8 billion U.S. dollars) in the first half (H1) of 2022, the German carmaker said on Thursday.
At the same time, sales revenues increased by 2 percent year-on-year to 132.3 billion euros.
"Despite unprecedented global challenges, Volkswagen has demonstrated remarkable financial robustness," CFO Arno Antlitz said, adding that the group has "proven that it can deliver good results even in a challenging environment."
Demand for fully electric vehicles further accelerated in the second quarter (Q2) of the year, Volkswagen said. In Western Europe, order intake of electric vehicles in H1 was 40 percent above the previous year's level.
Meanwhile, deliveries of battery electric vehicles (BEV) increased by 27 percent to 217,000 in H1. Volkswagen has recently added production capacities in Germany and the United States, to "support the planned increase of global BEV production in the second half of the year and beyond."
In China, the carmaker's largest single market, monthly production recovered noticeably towards the end of Q2. This positions the Group well for the remainder of the year as COVID-19 restrictions continue to ease, Volkswagen said.
China is the second-largest BEV market for Volkswagen, and was the biggest growth driver in BEV deliveries, with 63,500 BEVs delivered in H1 2022. This was a more than three times increase on 2021, the carmaker said.
In 2022, Volkswagen expects sales revenues to be between 8 and 13 percent higher than in the previous year. (1 euro = 1.02 U.S. dollars)
