German carmaker Volkswagen has made a weaker start to the new year due to problems in China and the launch of new models.
Sales in the first quarter fell by 1% compared to the same period last year to just under €75.5 billion ($80.8 billion), the company announced on Tuesday.
The operating result fell by a fifth to €4.59 billion. The corresponding operating margin fell by 1.4 percentage points to 6.1% and was therefore below the targets for the year as a whole, as already announced by management.
Group earnings after tax fell by almost 22% to €3.71 billion. The management led by chief executive Oliver Blume confirmed the annual forecasts.
VW attributed the weaker operating result to lower sales volumes, a less favourable sales mix for brands and models and higher fixed costs. The market launch of new models at Porsche, a pearl of profitability, and delivery bottlenecks at Audi weighed on the group's figures.
By contrast, the group with the mass brands VW Passenger Cars, Seat, Skoda and VW earned more than a year earlier.
"A strong March, the solid order bank and the improving order intake in the past months are encouraging and should already have a positive impact in the second quarter," said VW chief financial officer Arno Antlitz, according to the press release.
According to him, the savings and earnings programmes in the group's brands should gradually take effect over the course of the year.