Volkswagen Truck & Bus Q3 results

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Volkswagen Group Press Release  /  October 28, 2016

Volkswagen Truck & Bus sees unit sales continue to increase in Q3

• Around 133,000 trucks and buses sold from January through September 2016
• Truck sales of the MAN and Scania brands up 12% in Western Europe
• Renschler: "Commercial vehicle sales in Brazil are set to pick up again in 2017"

Volkswagen Truck & Bus sold 132,860 trucks and buses from January through September 2016, up 3% year-on-year.

MAN Truck & Bus sold 19,670 vehicles in the period from July through September, up 7% on the same quarter of the previous year. Scania recorded 3% growth in the third quarter of 2016, selling 18,420 trucks and buses. In a challenging market environment in South America, MAN Latin America's sales of the Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus and MAN brands fell 16% to 5,500 vehicles.

Andreas Renschler, the Member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG responsible for commercial vehicles and CEO of Volkswagen Truck & Bus, is pleased: "The third quarter of 2016 also went well. We continued to boost total unit sales, despite the ongoing crisis in Latin America. The market in Brazil seems to have bottomed out now. I expect that sales will start to pick up again slowly in 2017 and that we will be able to leverage our strong position there."

The growth trend in the trucks business continued in the first nine months of 2016: at 120,610 trucks, the Volkswagen Truck & Bus brands sold around 3% more than in the previous year. The trends in the individual regions varied: the ongoing economic recovery in Western Europe led to a year-on-year increase of 12%. Italy, the Netherlands, and France in particular all recorded growth. Volkswagen Truck & Bus delivered significantly more trucks than in the previous year with its own brands in Central and Eastern Europe too, lifting its unit sales there by 21%. Due to the persistently difficult macroeconomic climate and tougher financing conditions, truck sales in Brazil decreased by 22%.

Volkswagen Truck & Bus also saw positive developments in its bus business: at 12,250 vehicles, unit sales in the first three quarters of 2016 grew 3% year-on-year. In the third quarter alone, unit sales of buses increased by 21% compared with the previous year.

Theme-wise, the third quarter of 2016 was dominated by the IAA Commercial Vehicles show in Hanover. The IAA Startup Night saw the MAN, Scania, Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles brands showcase their trade fair highlights together for the first time under one roof. Volkswagen Truck & Bus presented its new brand RIO, a digital platform linking all the players in a transport system up with one other – regardless of the vehicle brand or function – thus allowing them to boost their efficiency and profitability.

MAN Truck & Bus

MAN's appearance at the IAA 2016 included a look at its new MAN TGE transporter. Through a downward extension of its product line, MAN now offers commercial vehicles from three through 250 tons. The MAN TGE is identical in construction to the new Crafter from Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles. Both vehicles are produced at the newly opened plant in the Polish town of Września, Europa's most modern factory building of its kind. Hanover also saw MAN present the concept of a fully electric heavy-duty delivery truck based on the MAN TGS in the form of its eTruck. The company has also made great strides in optimizing its production and spare parts network as part of its future-proofing program. This includes a job guarantee for all MAN Truck & Bus employees until at least 2025.

Scania

In August 2016, Scania unveiled its new truck generation to the world. It has been ten years in the making, fueled by an investment of around twenty billion Swedish krona. The new generation significantly expands Scania's offering to include more performance levels, connectivity services, and sustainable transportation solutions tailored precisely to the customer. Thanks to an improved drivetrain and optimized aerodynamics, the new Scania needs around 5% less fuel than its predecessor. The S-series of the new truck generation was crowned "International Truck of the Year 2017" at the IAA show.

Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus (Volkswagen Truck & Bus - Brazil)

In order to reduce its dependence on the Brazilian market, Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus presented an internationalization strategy that is already bearing fruit. The company succeeded – in a very difficult economic climate – in selling more than 460 vehicles in key export markets such as Argentina, Chile, and Bolivia. In Mexico, the company secured a major order for 246 MAN- and Volksbus-branded buses for the tourism industry.

Volkswagen Truck & Bus

Volkswagen Truck & Bus GmbH is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Volkswagen AG and is a global leader in commercial vehicles with its brands MAN, Scania, and Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus. In 2015, the brands of Volkswagen Truck & Bus sold a total of 180,000 vehicles. Its product range includes medium- and heavy-duty trucks as well as vans and buses that are manufactured at 25 sites in 17 countries. As of December 31, 2015, the Company employed 76,000 people at all commercial vehicle brands worldwide. The Group is committed to driving transportation to the next level — in terms of products, services, and as a partner for its customers.