Europe’s largest car manufacturer Volkswagen has 2025 despite the weak sales China, an expensive strategy shift Porsche and the tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump (79) brought a surprising amount of money into their coffers. The cash inflow in the car business was six billion euros, one billion euros higher than in 2024, as the Wolfsburg-based group announced on Wednesday after the stock market closed. The company itself had not expected that there would be money left over at the end of the year. This was positively received on the stock market. The share
rose 5.7 percent at the start of trading on Thursday.
VW management had already signaled in advance that the cash inflow would be higher, but the extent was surprising, said Philippe Houchois, analyst at the investment bank Jefferies. It can also be seen that dependence on the Chinese business is decreasing. The contribution to earnings from the joint ventures in China is also expected to fall in the first half of 2026, then stabilize and increase again from 2027. Volkswagen is also likely to benefit from new models in 2026. Volkswagen will present its figures for the past year and its forecast for 2026 at the annual press conference on March 10th.
Inventories reduced, investments lower than expected
According to the company, the reason for the higher cash inflow last year is that less working capital is tied up because inventories were reduced. On the other hand, investments in both systems and research and development were lower than initially expected. According to preliminary figures, the company’s investment rate was 12 percent of revenues in the car business; in 2024 it was still 14.3 percent. CFO Arno Antlitz (55) wants to further reduce investments in the coming years. They are expected to amount to 160 billion euros by 2030, which is less than in previous investment cycles.
He can access a higher cash balance than previously assumed. According to the information, the net liquidity of the group, which includes brands such as VW, Audi, Porsche and Traton, was more than 34 billion euros, which is four billion euros more than last predicted. Analysts had expected a significantly lower cash inflow and lower liquidity.