VW Brand Profit (By Make) : 2017-19

Bentley charging out of the wilderness into profitability

VW allow us to see how each division fares when it comes to profit various brands make within the group. I believe the figures exclude vehicles made by joint venture operations in China. Lamborghini is combined with Audi. The first column is sales (Bentley the only one with a decimal place due to small numbers). Then millions of euros profit/loss and finally euros of profit per vehicle made.

Porsche is very profitable, at over €15,000 per vehicle. Bentley had a horror 2018 but bounced back strongly in 2019. I think VW would like to see the €5,600 per car improved on though. Audi/Lamborghini gained a bit, to €3,750 each and Škoda pushed its margin up to €1,560.

VW LCVs were down to €1,100, the tie up with Ford LCVs in Europe a good move. VW cars is trying to lift its modest €1,000 per unit figure, with a little success. Lastly SEAT was a constant loss maker that tested VW HQ's patience. However, it is now in the black and gaining, now at €670. Is it a coincidence the profit came along at the same time as it invested in an SUV range? I think not.

Year	2019			2018			2017
Brand	Sales	Mill €	€ Per Car	Sales	Mill €	€ Per Car	Sales	Mill €	€ Per Car
Porsche	277	4,210	15,199	253	4,110	16,245	248	4,003	16,141
Bentley	11.6	65	5,603	9.6	-288	-30,000	10.5	55	5,238
Audi	1,200	4,509	3,758	1,467	4,705	3,207	1,530	5,058	3,306
Škoda	1,062	1,660	1,563	957	1,377	1,439	937	1,611	1,719
VW LCV	456	510	1,118	469	780	1,663	498	853	1,713
VW Car	3,677	3,787	1,030	3,715	3,239	872	3,573	3,301	924
SEAT	667	445	667	608	254	418	595	191	321

Data source: VW.

VW LCV Global Production (By Model) : 2018-19

A part of the VW empire many may not think of is its commercial vehicles. I don't bother getting into the truck side but light commercials are fair game. Production was down 8% for the year, only the Crafter spared. The worst hit was the Amarok, which has struggled to gain traction against US and Japanese competition.

16	17	18	19	Models	2019	%	+/-		2018	%	+/-
1	1	1	1	Transporter	188,118	35.3%	-7%		201,811	34.9%	-3%
				Caravel/Kombi	96,533		-16%		115,525		0%
				Van	91,585		6%		86,286		-7%
2	2	2	2	Caddy	148,246	27.9%	-8%		161,035	27.9%	-2%
				Kombi	81,466		-9%		89,154		-4%
				Van	66,780		-7%		71,881		1%
5	5	4	3	Crafter	72,906	13.7%	9%		67,151	11.6%	85%
3	3	3	4	Amarok	68,010	12.8%	-24%		88,950	15.4%	11%
4	4	5	5	Saveiro	54,941	10.3%	-7%		59,233	10.2%	-11%
				Total	532,221		-8%		578,180		4%

Regional sales. Deliveries as shown below are down on actual sales. I retain the Saviero into this area, unlike VW which moved it over to the VW car brand area a few years back. To me it's a compact utility vehicle, they must see it now as a recreational one.

While VW as a brand is strong in Asia, it isn't when it comes to LCVs. In fact, if I took the Saviero out, it would be almost totally dependent on Europe. Otherwise it is mainly be the Amarok pick up that carries the VW LCV torch to other regions.

Region	2019	%	+/-		2018	%	+/-
Europe / Other	419,676	76.7%	-3%		434,084	75.1%	3%
South America	92,884	17.0%	-12%		105,335	18.2%	-2%
Asia - Pacific	23,124	4.2%	-17%		27,972	4.8%	6%
North America	11,316	2.1%	15%		9,842	1.7%	-6%
Total	547,000		-5%		578,000		2%

Data source: VW.

Porsche Global Production (By Model) : 2018-19

Porsche realised some time back that relying on solely sports car wasn't the way to a stable and consistently profitable future. They introduced a saloon car and two SUVs, with an all electric Taycan saloon just added to the range. The name Porsche may elicit thoughts of a sports car but in 2019 only 20% of production went that way.

The SUVs now hold just under 70% of the total cars made but they do seem to have reached their maximum percentage. The Cayenne coupé has been instrumental in pushing it back to the top spot of the range.

16	17	18	19	Models	2019	%	+/-		2018	%	+/-
2	2	2	1	Cayenne	95,293	34.7%	20%		79,111	29.5%	34%
1	1	1	2	Macan	89,744	32.7%	-4%		93,953	35.0%	-5%
3	4	3	3	911	37,585	13.7%	4%		36,236	13.5%	7%
5	3	4	4	Panamera	31,192	11.4%	-12%		35,493	13.2%	-6%
4	5	5	5	Boxster/Cayman	19,263	7.0%	-19%		23,658	8.8%	-10%
-	-	-	6	Taycan	1,386	0.5%	n/a		-
				Total	274,463		2%		268,451		5%
				SUV	67.4%		5%		64.5%		4%

Regional sales. The figure below is deliveries, sales were 277,000. In both cases, it represented a 10% increase, ahead of the 2% production figure. China remained the largest market with 87,000 sales, the Asia - Pacific region the strongest for the marque.

Region	2019	%	+/-		2018	%	+/-
Asia - Pacific	109,590	39.0%	8%		101,632	39.7%	11%
Europe / Other	96,102	34.2%	14%		83,968	32.8%	-3%
North America	71,936	25.6%	6%		67,584	26.4%	4%
South America	3,372	1.2%	20%		2,816	1.1%	14%
Total	281,000		10%		256,000		4%

Data source: VW.