Volkswagen cuts full-year operating margin guidance to 1%
The new target is far below the 4% to 5.5% range Volkswagen had held even after cutting its revenue forecast in July
Published · Updated
UpdateFriday, September 18, 2026 at 11:30 AM ET
Volkswagen shares are down 7.5% in Friday trading after the guidance cut.
Volkswagen has lowered its full-year operating return on sales guidance to 1%, down from the 4% to 5.5% range it had set earlier this year.
The company had defended that range as recently as July 24, even as it cut its revenue forecast, and shares fell as much as 3.2% that day before recovering some ground, according to Global Banking & Finance Review. Volkswagen's operating return on sales was 2.8% for all of 2025. In the first half of 2026 it was 3.8%, down from 4.2% in the same period the year before, according to Volkswagen's own results reported by Yahoo Finance.
German Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil said he is grateful for the restructuring agreement Volkswagen struck this year but does not see it as the end of the company's overhaul.
The scale of the cut, a drop of 75% to 80% from the previous guidance, marks a sharp downgrade even as Volkswagen presses ahead with the restructuring plan that had initially lifted its stock. Taken together with warnings about the company's credit rating and estimates that the overhaul could cost 16 billion euros, the margin collapse suggests the turnaround will take longer and cost more than markets had priced in when the restructuring was first announced.