Press Release

Braunschweig, Frankfurt am Main, 19 March 2018. Volkswagen Financial Services have concluded the financial year 2017 with a new record result. As a result of the digitalisation of the business model, an increase in efficiency amounting to one billion euros will be realised by 2025. "2017 has been very successful for Volkswagen Financial Services. We are very satisfied with the result," says Lars Henner Santelmann, the Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Financial Services AG. Frank Fiedler, Chief Financial Officer of Volkswagen Financial Services AG, adds: "The good result was primarily based on the positive growth of our current contract portfolio and a lower level of refinancing and risk costs than in the previous year." The financial services division of the Volkswagen Group grew strongly last year. Total assets increased by 9.9% to EUR 186.9 billion (previous year: EUR 170 billion), the portfolio of current contracts including all joint ventures reached a new high of 19.7 million units (+ 8.1%, previous year: 18.2 million units), and a record result was attained once again with a figure of EUR 2.46 billion (+ 16.9 %, previous year: EUR 2.1 billion).

"We have been very successful during the past few years and are now setting the course for the coming years from this position of strength. The key to this is the complete digitalisation of our business model. This is leading to growing online sales for our service spectrum, the concomitant optimisation of our sales and marketing costs, and a leaner IT system landscape that enables considerable productivity gains. This will boost efficiency by around one billion euros by 2025 – with an unchanged core team. Over the same period, we plan to expand our contract portfolio from the current 19.7 million to 30 million contracts," says Santelmann.

CFO Fiedler is also optimistic for the financial year 2018: "Assuming that the good overall economic conditions continue during the current year, earnings for the Volkswagen Financial Services division are expected to remain at the previous year's level."

Contract growth

The growth drivers for the contract portfolio continue to be services such as maintenance and wear & tear or tyre services, which are of particular importance for the fleet business among other segments. As at 31.12.2017, the volume of service contracts amounted to more than 4.0 million units for the first time, corresponding to an increase of 16.8%. The total number of new contracts rose to almost eight million units by the end of the last financial year, an increase of more than 5.5%.

The Chinese, Italian and Spanish markets, in particular, recorded a high volume of new contracts during the last financial year. "Overall, we have grown very well worldwide together with the Volkswagen Group brands. Current contracts in the Chinese and Spanish markets have reached a level of more than one million units for the first time. We are very pleased about these new records," says Dr. Christian Dahlheim, Chief Sales Officer of Volkswagen Financial Services AG. The 2017 figures for total current contracts and new contracts also include the contracts of Porsche Financial Services for the first time. The previous year's figures have not been adjusted.

As at 31.12.2017, Volkswagen Financial Services had 15,770 employees, 2.9% more than in the previous year. 6,670 of them were employed in Germany.

Information for editors:

Volkswagen Financial Services are a business division of the Volkswagen AG group of companies and comprise Volkswagen Financial Services AG along with its associated companies, Volkswagen Bank GmbH, Porsche Financial Services, and the financial services companies in the USA, Canada, and Spain that belong directly or indirectly to Volkswagen AG – with the exception of the financial services of the Scania brand and Porsche Holding Salzburg. The key business fields embrace dealer and customer financing, leasing, the bank and insurance business, fleet management and mobility offers. Volkswagen Financial Services have a total of 15,770 employees worldwide – including 6,670 alone in Germany. Volkswagen Financial Services report total assets of around EUR 186.9 billion, an operating result of EUR 2.5 billion euros and a portfolio of around 19.7 million current contracts (as at: 31.12.2017).