VW global profits triple

Thursday, July 28, 2011

photo The VW logo is seen on the front of one of dozens of new Passats made at the Chattanooga Volkswagen assembly plant parked outside the plant. These cars will be used as demos for testing, internal quality control and press test drives.

German carmaker Volkswagen AG said today that net profit more than tripled in the second quarter on booming sales in emerging markets, but its shares slumped after it warned of challenges in coming months.

Net profit reached $6.86 billion, far above the same quarter a year ago and well ahead of average analyst expectations.

Revenues rose 21.5 percent in the quarter, the company reported. Unit sales were up strongly in emerging markets such as Russia, Turkey, South Africa, China and Argentina. U.S. sales also rose, though not by as much.

VW is aiming to boost U.S. sales with the launch of the Chattanooga-made Passat midsize sedan in September.

But, the company warned that the rest of the year globally could prove challenging.

"Volatile interest-rate and exchange rate developments as well as raw materials prices could weaken the positive volume effects," it said in a statement.