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Volkswagen posts quarterly profit despite drop in sales

Volkswagen returned to profit in the third quarter as surging Chinese demand for luxury cars helped offset a 1.1% drop in vehicle deliveries due to the pandemic, sending its shares as much as 3% higher on Thursday. The German automaker's return to the black comes amid spiking coronavirus cases in Europe that led governments in France and Germany to order their countries back into strict national lockdowns on Wednesday. "The coronavirus remains a central problem," Volkswagen Chief Financial Officer Frank Witter said in a conference call with reporters. "This situation now is anything but relaxed." But Witter said the group expected the economic recovery to continue and did "not anticipate any nationwide lockdowns in larger markets." Witter said the takeover of U.S. truck maker Navistar International by Volkswagen's trucking unit Traton was an important acquisition, but the "current economic climate will not make this easy." Volkswagen reiterated it expects to post a profit for the full year, saying its business "recovered noticeably" in the third quarter as sales in China of premium vehicles, including Audi and Porsche sports cars, rose 3%. The quarterly performance was also aided by a series of cost-cutting measures launched earlier this year. Volkswagen said its net liquidity rose to 24.8 billion euros from 18.7 billion at the end of the second quarter. Excluding one-time items, third-quarter operating profit was 3.2 billion euros ($3.8 billion), down from 4.8 billion euros a year earlier, but up from a second quarter loss of 1.7 billion. In a note to clients, Jefferies analyst Philippe Houchois described the results as a "solid performance with strong cash, but relatively muted in the context of the (auto) sector recovery." Last week, German rival Daimler reported a record 24% jump in Chinese demand for its Mercedes-Benz cars, boosting its margins in the third quarter. Italian-American Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Peugeot manufacturer PSA Group both also posted solid results this week. Witter said Volkswagen could not say for sure whether it would meet EU CO2 emissions targets this year, adding "it will be a tough race." At 1030 GMT, Volkswagen shares were up 2.9% at 129.20 euros. Related Video: Earnings/Financials Audi Bentley Bugatti Lamborghini Porsche Volkswagen

'World's Most Expensive Car Crash' results in 10 charged [w/video]

Justice is slowly being served to those drivers who were involved in a 10-car pile up in Japan last year that saw eight Ferrari models, one Lamborghini and three Mercedes-Benz vehicles hauled off for scrap. As you may recall, the lead driver lost control of his machine, pin balling into those following behind and doing some $4 million in damage in the process. Now the 61-year-old lead driver and nine others have had their cases sent to prosecutors.
The group are currently being charged with suspicion of violating traffic laws. We'll take a moment to wait for the laughter to die down before continuing.
Prosecutors claim the drivers were exceeding the speed limit and not paying attention to the road when the incident happened. Six people were injured in the dust up, but everyone survived. The group was on their way to a supercar event in Hiroshima. Feel free to watch the original news reports below.

Five different Huracans? Lamborghini's thinking about it

Lamborghini will make sure there's a Huracan for every potential (supercar) customer by offering at least five versions over the model's lifetime, including one with even more performance. Company boss Stephan Winkelmann might be on the way out at Lambo, but he opened up to Autocar about the future. Winkelmann confirms that Lamborghini has a more hardcore Huracan under development. "For sure there will be a car that is going in the direction of lighter and faster," he said. Spy shots from earlier this year possibly show the model testing with tweaks to the rear end and camouflage that suggests relocated exhaust pipes. The company also could offer a droptop version of the incredible LP580-2 (pictured above), which we recently drove. The current boss didn't detail other specific versions of the Huracan, but suggested that more variants might be possible. "It could be more than five derivatives over the life cycle. We have a lot of ideas that are already planned, but the more we think, the more things are coming up," he said. Adding more versions of the already popular Huracan could help Lamborghini boost volume further before the release of the Urus around 2018. The company had a sales record in 2014 and was on track for an even better result this year. Related Video: