Volkswagen to report excellent 2017 results, says CEO Mueller

Volkswagen will report outstanding group results this year, its CEO stated, because of the expected record vehicle sales and by spending cuts.

The automaker’s popularity with drivers appears to have weathered the storm after the emissions scandal of September 2015, which has cost the automaker billions of euros in fines and charges.

“It will certainly be quite impressive in functional terms,” VW group CEO Matthias Mueller informed Germany’s weekly Welt am Sonntag when asked to summarize the 2017 business year. The automaker is due to publish comprehensive 2017 results on March 13.

Last month, the CEO predicted that group deliveries would surpass the 2016 record of 10.3 million vehicles.

Cost cuts at the core passenger-cars department have triggered the world’s largest automaker to raise its profit target for the year, and it has since likewise updated its mid-term profit and sales guidance.

On the other hand, Mueller stated propositions by the European Commission for progressive cuts in automakers’ average co2 (CO2) emissions by 2025 and 2030 will “cause us real” discomfort.

Wolfsburg-based automaker over 2 years ago confessed to cheating in diesel emissions tests in the United States. It has reserved about 25 billion euros ($ 30 billion) to cover associated fines and car fixes and deals with thousands of lawsuits worldwide.

Mueller also slammed the prolonged political deadlock in Germany, which has no new federal government as Chancellor Angela Merkel continues to look for a union partner three months after federal elections.

“This is taking too long,” the CEO stated on Sunday. “We need to become capable of acting again, for this purpose in some cases also unpopular decisions are necessary.”