Volkswagen Ag Unsp/Adr

Good morning, everybody, and welcome to our annual media conference of the Volkswagen Group here out of Wolfsburg, and it's great to have you here today. And for those of you who are joining us online, welcome to you as well. Now we're here at Autostadt, which is a place that embodies like no other what our company stands for. Strong brands, iconic products, and a clear vision for the mobility of tomorrow. For the Volkswagen Group, 2025 was a year of progress. We brought exciting products to the people. translated technology into real customer benefits. We streamlined our structures, reduced costs and further improved our governance. So strong brands and strong products. We're not only convincing our customers, but also the experts in the sense that we are winning prestigious awards. We're setting historic records. Now recently, for instance, with the golden steering wheel, and in 2025 also we were named the world's most innovative automotive group. So, in short, the new strength of the Volkswagen Group was put on the road in an environment that is radically changing which places unprecedented challenges to our entire industry with increasing geopolitical tensions and trade policy barriers and massive pricing pressure in key markets. We've worked flat out to make ourselves fit for the future, to further strengthen our competitiveness with consistency, with discipline and pragmatism. With around 9 million vehicles delivered in 2025, we were almost at the previous year's level, and Europe remains our strong base here in our home market. Our position is now stronger than ever, and that happens at a time when we operate also in an extremely dynamic environment. We have posted a 4% increase in sales and market share of over 25%, and we've grown our leading position here with ICEs and electric vehicles. Now, what is particularly positive is that BEV sales in Europe rose by 66%, so with a share of 27%, we're the clear market leader here. Five out of the 10 best-selling all-electric models here in Europe come from our group. Now, in particularly challenging markets like North America, minus 10%, and China minus 8%, the deliveries declined as expected. Now, very positive for us, on the other hand, was South America with an increase of 12%, and Asia, excluding China, came with an increase of 9%, and the Middle East and Africa posted an increase of 10%. Flexibility in terms of drive types is proving to be a global strength today. We have efficient internal combustion engines, advanced hybrids, and sustainable all-electric vehicles. The Volkswagen Group's revenue amounts to €322 billion, almost reaching the previous year's level. Operating profit stands at €8.9 billion, which is significantly less than in the previous year, but the decline is largely due to special effects and tariffs. And at the same time, we see that our comprehensive standardized performance programs are taking an effect for our brands, for our companies, for our regions. And this has also allowed us to significantly and sustainably strengthen the cost structure of our company. And thanks to this major progress in cost reduction, were we able to offset a significant part of the global headwinds. The direct and indirect effects of US tariffs alone amounted to around 5 billion euros. Additionally, there are significant one-off expenses for restructuring and special effects relating to our brands, and those were then recorded as one-off effects in 2025. At 5.5% our operating performance before special items and tariffs is at the lower end of our original forecast at the beginning of the year. This is also despite further unjustified effects like changed market conditions in China, the drop of vehicle sales due to tariffs on Mexico-produced cars, and substantial expenses related to the technological transformation of our company. All of this underscores the effectiveness, but also the necessity of our programs. Net cash flow in the automotive division reached 6.4 billion euros. And thanks to the excellent work of our teams, this is up 1.3 billion on the previous year. This has enabled us also to consolidate net liquidity at a very stable level of around 34.5 billion euros. At the Annual General Meeting in June, the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board will propose a dividend of €5.26 per preferred share for the 2025 financial year. The fact that the capital market is gradually rewarding our approach is also reflected in the share price. Volkswagen preferred shares rose by around 16% in 2025, and during the same period, the stock's Europe Automobile and Parts Automotive Industry Index declined by 4% in the capital market. Including our dividend for shareholders, this has meant an increase in value of 24%, and that is a positive trend for the Volkswagen Group in an environment that was anything but easy. for our industry and all of this happens in the midst of a phase of profound restructuring, realignment and transformation. Arno Antlitz will also explain the details of the financial figures to you in a moment. We achieved a great deal in 2025 with our clear strategy, consistent implementation, and above all, a team that works on this every day with determination, with ambition and passion. But it's also clear that this was far from enough. We still have a lot of work ahead of us. The global conditions are undergoing a comprehensive, a fundamental realignment. Familiar certainties of the past are disappearing. So our business model of the past also no longer works. So against this backdrop, it is crucial for our success to further expand our regional activities as well. At the same time, we will need to tap global synergies even more. And we've already begun to do this with our In China For China strategy. We're growing our global footprint, we're becoming more independent, and we're also taking advantage of local opportunities, and we're increasing our resilience. So, ladies and gentlemen, you see that we're heading in the right direction. The strong fourth quarter has already shown a noticeable improvement in performance. We are now also seeing the first effects of the restructuring. Through our wage agreements and personnel measures alone, we have already achieved cost savings of around 1 billion euros at Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche and Carriot in 2025. remain solidly focused on our goal by 2030 we plan to achieve annual cost savings of more than 6 billion euros through the future packages alone. Our Volkswagen brand has developed positively and it is stabilizing the overall result. We have exciting products such as the new T-Roc which has made an excellent start on the market But we're also continuing now to pick up the pace. The electric urban car family is in the starting blocks as we speak. It will expand our entire electric portfolio from the entry-level segment with the ID Polo all the way to the ID7. Audi is reinforcing its claim to Vorsprung durch Technik with a complete realignment which encompasses all areas of the company. It has iconic design, leading technologies, innovative manufacturing approaches, and this is how the concept C show car now points the way forward for the brand. And at the same time, also Audi is currently in the midst of the company's largest model push across all driveline types. Porsche's sales volume in the largest single markets of China and the USA are exported exclusively from Europe. And therefore Porsche finds itself in a particularly challenging situation with the massive changes in the market conditions. It's also why the company was realigned in 2025 and despite those new conditions Porsche remains one of the strongest companies in the industry with the financial adjustments. For the entire Volkswagen group, we are working to achieve an operating return on sales of 8% to 10% by 2030, and this is an ambition that's higher than our target levels in the past. Why? Because the economic environment has changed dramatically. With our extensive restructuring program and the realignment of the last three years, we have put our group on a robust footing. And we have delivered in doing so. We have achieved some of our goals earlier than planned. And everything really is geared towards our top 10 programs in the group and the brands which apply to products, to technologies, software regions. mobility services, sustainability and of course financial performance. But at the same time our world has changed dramatically over the last three years with market structures, trade policy barriers and extensive regulation in the world's regions and basically our own costs which are still too high, especially in Europe. And that is why we are currently working on a transformation plan for the next phase of our company. Now, this we call the Volkswagen Group 2030 vision, focusing on revising our business model under the new conditions. We plan to further develop our product portfolio, which will be specifically tailored to the regions of the world and the respective profit pools we have in those markets. We are refocusing our technology, battery and software roadmap, and we also look to further improving our financial structure and generally making the Volkswagen Group more efficient. And throughout the course of the year, we will provide information about our next steps. This year will be one where we will continue to bring our innovative strength to bear in our products and technologies with a model push of more than 20 new vehicles with a real highlight, the electric urban car family. It is more than just a model series. It is an expression of the Volkswagen Group's expertise and capabilities. We're talking here about four models, three brands, all sitting on one platform. We first presented it as a complete family at the IAA Motor Show, and now we're putting it on the road. Electric mobility at an entry-level price. It comes with top technologies from higher vehicle segments. Volkswagen, Cupra, and Skoda are thus tapping into a growth segment with great potential. In just a few weeks, the Cupra Revolve will celebrate its world premiere, and you can look forward to it, just like we do. And there will be many other fully electric vehicles, such as the Audi E3 CUV or the Porsche Cayenne Electric, so a real BEV push across all the segments. And at the same time, we're also continuing to accelerate in China. After less than three years of transformation now, we're in full delivery mode. By 2027, We will launch around 30 electrified models in the Chinese market together with our local partners. We've accelerated development times by up to 30%. We have also reduced our material costs on the local CMP platform by more than 40%. So we will transfer this experience to other regions of the world. In technology terms, we're already taking now the next decisive steps. In our joint venture between Carriot and Horizon Robotics, which we call Corizon, we're developing our first group-owned AI chip for the next generation of intelligent connected vehicles, and therefore a powerful, energy-efficient, and AI-supported system of automated driving. Batteries remain the key technology for e-mobility, and we are increasingly taking this into our own hands. We launched our Cell Factory and Cell Skitter in September, and that stands for technology know-how, industry expertise, and control along the entire value chain. With the introduction of LFP cell technologies, we're also expanding our technology spectrum and strengthen our competitiveness in the volume segment. And the same is true for software. We are making rapid progress. We launched the zonal China electric architecture. We brought it into serious production in just 18 months. At the same time, our joint venture with Rivian Volkswagen Tech is off to a very good start. It's fully on schedule, and together we are now developing the next STV architecture for the Western Hemisphere. It will then be used for the first time in the ID Everyone from 2027. Our software subsidiary Carriot has been technically restructured, has been reorganized, is significantly streamlined now. It focuses on cross-functional tasks and is much more powerful. Our standards remain high. We want to be the global automotive tech driver, and we're continuing on this path resolutely we know where we want to go we know what needs to be done and we have the strength of a strong team behind us colleagues around the world work to make progress possible day in day out with great expertise with a lot of passion and genuine team spirit I would like to thank our teams for what they have achieved over the past year, also on behalf of the entire Board of Management. Our focus now for 2026 is clear, strong products, compelling technologies, delighted customers, as in the past, strict cost discipline, not as an end in itself, but as a prerequisite for investment in the future, for growth and a successful development of our company. We have made important progress, that is clear. General conditions are once again more challenging And we're continuing to adapt to them. We're acting with foresight. We remain focused. And we're seizing our opportunities. And there will be many more of these in 2026. Thank you very much. Arno, the stage is yours.

Ladies and gentlemen, 2025 was quite a challenging year. It was marked by geopolitical tensions, by tariffs and very intense competition. In this demanding environment, we have made major progress and continue to strengthen the substance of the Volkswagen Group. For our customers, we have launched 30 attractive models to the market, and we have made visible progress with our restructuring plans, and we obtained a solid net cash flow. Thus, we kept net liquidity at a solid level. I would like to thank all of the employees for this success they have worked on. Compared to the previous year, we have improved important key indicators. Our operating result, however, went down by about 50%. The current level of results at 4.6%, adjusted by special effects, is not enough in the long term to keep investing vigorously into the future. This shows that in this challenging environment, we have to continue to strictly reduce costs, open up group synergies, and reduce complexity, thus bringing our profitability to a higher level, and sustainably so. After these preliminary remarks, please let me put the figures into context. We'll be starting by looking at our deliveries. Despite the multiple challenges, we delivered about 9 million vehicles worldwide to our customers in 2025. This is almost at previous year's level. Declines in deliveries in China and the United States were balanced by two-digit growth rates in South America and by growth in Europe. The renewal of our product portfolio is therefore increasingly paying off. The deliveries of battery electric vehicles grew by 32%, thus the share of battery electric cars is increased to 11% of global deliveries. The greatest impetus came from Europe. The share of electric car deliveries in Europe stands at around 19%. Nowadays, every fourth electric vehicle sold in Europe comes from the Volkswagen Group. This shows, quite impressively, our electric strategy is working. Group sales revenue went down slightly to around 322 billion euros, mainly due to currency effects. The operating result of 8.9 billion euros was 53% below the previous year. This corresponds to a return of 2.8%. The result shows the intensive competition in our industry. However, 2025 also saw major special effects. In total, there were special effects of about 5.9 billion euros. The lion's share results from Porsche goodwill impairment to the tune of 2.7 billion euros and from the adaptation of the Porsche product strategy coming in at around 2 billion euros. Restructuring costs meant another 1.3 billion euros. Adjusting the margin for these items results in a more precise picture of the operating performance of the Volkswagen Group in 2025. Before these effects, the operating return on sales stands at 4.6%. This number is a good indicator for where we stand in the current environment. Deducting tariffs as well, which led to costs of 2.9 billion in the last nine months of 2025, we end up with a margin of 5.5%. Against the backdrop of the numerous challenges, this is quite an achievement. But of course, it is the result achieved which counts in the end. The tariffs are here to stay, and a margin of 4.6% is not enough for vigorous investment into the future. In order to permanently strengthen Volkswagen's resilience in a difficult market situation, we have to implement the current improvement programs consistently, and we have to step up our efforts. The net cash flow in the Group Division Automotive grew to a total of 6.4 billion euros. Cash flow improvement was the result of targeted initiatives that were implemented since last summer all over the Group. The net cash flow of 6.4 billion euros mainly came from a strong second half of the year and in particular from the fourth quarter, which was marked by an improved management of our inventories and a high level of capex discipline. We can quite rightly be proud of the good work of our teams in the branch and in the divisions. With their work, they have made a decisive contribution in order to strengthen the financial performance of our group. Ladies and gentlemen, in order to create transparency and counter the unfounded speculation of recent weeks, I would like to take this opportunity to explain in a bit more detail how we achieve this net cash flow. The diagram shows you the individual components of the net cash flow in 2025 in a simplified fashion. Basis is gross cash flow. which in 2025 stood at 28.7 billion euros. This gross cash flow results in the cash flow of ongoing operations plus changes in working capital, which are mainly changes in inventories and also receivables and liabilities. When we build up inventories, this ties up money. When we reduce stocks, additional money comes into the till. From the cash flow from ongoing operations, we have to pay in capex for capitalized R&D costs as well as for M&A activities such as Rivian, for example. Thus, we end up at the net cash flow figure. The absolute figures for 2025 are only of limited significance. which is why we have compared them with the figures we achieved in 2024, and you see them on the left below the pillars. These changes compared to previous year are shown on the right-hand side. Due to weaker operating business, gross cash flow in 2025 was 6.7 billion lower than that in 2024, against the backdrop of tariffs, considerable uncertainty, we reduced our forecast for net cash flow in September subsequently to zero. In order to decisively counteract this development, we have set up a group-wide task force with the aim to reduce expenditure and optimize inventories. And our teams have delivered. In terms of working capital, a positive amount of 2.7 billion euros was achieved for the full year of 2025. Previous year's figure was negative at minus 1.1 billion euros. The majority of the improvement in working capital compared with previous year amounted to around 2 billion euros. It came from lower inventories at the end of the year. I'm going to talk about that later on. Thanks to strict expenditure discipline, capital expenditure on property, plant and equipment was also reduced by 1.9 billion. Lower capitalized research and development expenditure contributed 1.2 billion. And we spent 1.1 billion euros less on M&A activities. Overall, measures such as inventory optimization, investment discipline, lower R&D expenditure, and lower expenditure in M&A supported the net cash flow with 6.2 billion euros, and thus almost completely offset the lower cash inflow from weaker operating business. The majority of the improvement came in the fourth quarter. So, as already mentioned, main change in working capital came, as mentioned, from the reduction of inventories. Now, reduction of inventories in the fourth quarter is nothing unusual. In 2024, the seasonal effect was further supported by sustainable structural improvements between production, logistics and sales. Let me give you an example. During the chip shortage our plants found it difficult to meet exact delivery dates for customers. we simply did not know whether we had all the parts available. For this reason, the vehicles were built with a long lead time so that they would definitely be available to dealers on time when the customer's leasing contract expired and customers come back into the dealerships. With improved adherence to delivery dates in our plants, we were able to shorten vehicle throughput times across the entire value chain to dealers in 2025, thereby reducing inventories without compromising vehicle availability for our customers. In total, we were able to reduce inventories in the fourth quarter of 2025 vis-à-vis third quarter by 4.8 billion and by 2 billion compared to the end of 2024. Supported by the positive development of net cash flow, we were able to maintain net liquidity at a solid level of 34.5 billion. Let's now come to the performance of the individual divisions. In the automotive division, the realignment of Porsche, US tariffs and restructuring had a particularly strong impact. As a result, the segment recorded an operating profit of only 5 billion euros. This represents a decline of 64% compared with the previous year. For heavy commercial vehicles, lower sales volumes in particular weighed on earnings. Operating profit fell by 43% to 2.4 billion euros. Financial services increased its operating profit by 19% to 3.7 billion euros, driven primarily by a strong business in Europe. Let's now take a look at the operating profit in passenger cars like commercial vehicles in the income statement reconciliation with the previous year. Effects become pretty clear then. Volume had a slightly positive effect. The successful ramp-up of... Electric vehicles, which currently still have lower margins in Europe, came at a price. Negative price and mixed effects had a negative impact of around 3.2 billion, or one percentage point on the margin. The burden of US tariffs cost us around another percentage point of margin. In terms of fixed costs, the burdens associated with the realignment of Porsche had a negative effect, as described. By contrast, we were able to reduce operating fixed costs compared with 2024. Here, the consistent implementation of our performance programs is increasingly beginning to pay off. As a result, overheads in the automotive division fell by 1.5 billion euros. The Volkswagen grant in particular made an important contribution to this. So, let's look at the development of the brand groups. Significant progress was made in the brand group core. Sales volume and revenue increased in a difficult market environment driven by the successful ramp-up of fully electric vehicles. Despite the negative impact of tariffs and weaker margins of electric vehicles operating, performance remains stable. The result amounted to 6.8 billion euros, the margin of 4.7% is roughly on par with the previous year. Skoda's outstanding performance has a positive impact here. With a margin of 8.3%, the brand Skoda impressively demonstrates what can be achieved when a strong product substance based on the Volkswagen platform is combined with competitive cost structures. The Volkswagen brand has also made substantial progress. This was particularly evident in the fourth quarter. Earnings remained stable for the year as a whole. This fully offset the brand's tariff burdens of around 900 million euros. These figures impressively demonstrate that with the implementation of our performance programs, we are not yet hitting our goal, but we are on the right track. With the brand group Progressive, Audi closed 2025 with a double-digit margin in the fourth quarter. With its fully electric models, Audi achieves a record number of deliveries. Good sales figures did not translate into operating profit here either due to US tariffs and the significant share of purely electric vehicles. Initial contributions from the performance program at Audi were able to offset these effects partially. As a result, the brand group Progressive achieves an operating profit of 3.4 billion euros, 14% below previous year's figure. This leads to a margin of 5.1%. The operating result of the sport luxury brand group reflects lower sales, particularly in the Chinese market and significant special items in 2025. Tariffs again had a negative impact here. Our technology platforms Carriot and PowerCo made visible progress in 2025, but still had a significant negative impact on the group's results. Carriot significantly increased its license income and reduced its operating loss by €0.3 billion to €2.2 billion. In the battery business, the operating loss increased as a result of the ramp-up of production capacity. Powerco started cell production at the Salzgitter Gigafactory on schedule at the end of 2025. The first battery cells made in Europe are to be used in series production in our vehicles starting this year, an important milestone in our electric strategy. Trade-on was significantly affected by a difficult market environment in the truck segment. Revenue declined to 42.5 billion, while operating profit fell to 2.4 billion euros, mainly due to lower sales volumes in North America and Brazil, negative exchange rate effects and costs for the new plant in China. Nevertheless, the latest trend in order intake gives us reason to be confident that there should be some improvement in 2026. The proportionate operating profit of our joint venture activities in China amounted to 958 million euros in 2025. Competitive pressure in China remains high, particularly in the premium and luxury segment. In the volume segment, prices have been stabilized in the course of 2025. Looking ahead, New locally developed electric vehicles with competitive technologies and cost structures are now entering the market. While 2026 will still be financially impacted by these launches, rising financial contributions are expected again in 2027. Our Group Board member for China, Ralf Brandstetter, will explain the progress made by his team in detail at an investor and analyst event during the Beijing Auto Show in China in April. Ladies and gentlemen, this brings me to the financial outlook for the 2026 financial year. We expect customer demand to remain largely stable all over the world. At the same time, we anticipate continued high competitive pressure. Against this backdrop, we expect the Volkswagen Group's revenue to grow by... between 0 and 3% in 2026. The operating margin is expected to be in the range of between 4 and 5.5%. And we expect net cash flow to be in the range of 3 to 6 billion euros and net liquidity in the range of between 32 and 34 billion euros. Ladies and gentlemen, The Volkswagen Group has everything it needs to successfully shape the transformation of the industry. We have strong brands, inspiring products and can rely on global economies of scale. These clear strengths are not currently fully reflected in our financial outlook. They are overshadowed by the current challenges of volatile global economy and tariffs, as well as increasing competition and high expenditure for transformation in the entire industry. In this environment, we want and we need to keep our combustion engine vehicles technologically competitive, continue to invest in exciting electric vehicles and the latest software solutions for our customers and expand our regional presence, especially in the United States. We can only achieve this if we continue to consistently reduce our costs, leverage group synergies, reduce complexity and thus sustainably increase our profitability. This is what we will be focusing on in the coming months. Thank you very much.

Well, thank you very much, Anu Antlitz and Oliver Blume, for your statements. And with that, we are going to take your questions. So can I ask you please to raise your hands if you have a question. I'll try to remember everyone. We start with Frank Johansson, GPA, and then Christina Hammond from Reuters.

Thank you very much.

Mr. Blumer, you said earlier that you are working on the Vision 2030 target. It seems you need to bring costs down even further. And can you say specifically what that means? Do you still consider plant closures, staff reductions? I mean, is this something that you need to renegotiate with the trade unions, with the IG Metal? Because you already agreed on a package, on a reduction package, and will more be added then? Okay, let me put that into context. In the past three years, and you're aware of this, we have fundamentally realigned the Volkswagen Group. in the sense that we've achieved many of our objectives faster than we originally thought. Three years ago, the situation was entirely different than it is today. We are facing trade policy barriers, completely changing the markets, different regulatory systems that have changed. become applicable. And then we realized that the business model that has supported us for decades in the Volkswagen Group, and essentially it's true for the entire German car industry, for Germany as such, German industry as such, that this business model is not tenable anymore. And therefore, it's the prime obligation for all of us to grow, to develop our company. Now, we call this a transformation plan. We are going to see how our business model for the future can be prepared for the needs that are out there to develop local products and structures like we've shown in China now. And at the same time, we need to make sure that all of our global synergies can still be tapped, can still be used, and they need to be grown. Our product portfolio will be adjusted. The profit pools must be spot on. And then we will continue to focus on our core business, develop vehicles, sell vehicles. Financial service is important. After sales is important. We are going to focus on specific technologies and also deal with taking costs out because in the past three years our performance programs have been very successful and it's actually been thanks to those performance programs that we are still above the waterline you know what competitors are facing right now it's precisely that stable position of the Volkswagen group is thanks to our intense work on reducing costs which include also the future packages, start cut packages that are part of the transformation program. So we will leave no stone unturned. We look into development, production, procurement, quality and manufacturing, and we'll take a closer look at the factories, of course. But the positive signal for Volkswagen is that if we take the big three German plants, In the past year, factory costs have been improved by 20%. So those of you who are in the know will realize what 20% of savings means. It's massive cost reduction work. So the direction is the right one, but we will need to do more because our costs are still too high in Europe, and we have to pitch ourselves against our competitors who in Europe will include also Chinese OEMs because it's a big business potential here for the Chinese in Europe. So we have to fight back. Christina Ammann is next. Thank you very much and good morning. Just earlier you mentioned the three large factories in which you have improved the cost situation. What about the other factories? And what about the complexity of your company? In 2024, your decision was taken to wind down production at Osnabrück and stop at 2027. But is there a way forward after this for Osnabrück and Zwickau for that matter? And what about mergers and acquisitions? There are also assets for divestment. Now, Mr. Antlitz, you want to increase the free float at Trayton? And in terms of Evelyn's, are you planning more? And finally, the U.S. business. What's the current state of play of Scout? When will the factory open? And what's your forecast there? And what about the Audi plant in the U.S.? Okay, I'm going to take the first part here, and Arno, perhaps you go to our investment portfolio. Now, we're making progress in all plants. I just picked an example here, and we have clear objectives. We are following and tracking the results. We set up tandems, working tandems, between the plant manager and the head of the works council, and that turns out to be a very positive working model. We work both ways, as it were, and we're regularly tracking progress. Progress is very positive, I can say that. When it comes to capacity adjustments, With Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche and Carrier, we are planning to eliminate 50,000 jobs, which is part of the future package, including the 35,000 jobs that we've mentioned for Volkswagen. And that also means that capacities will have to be reduced when we are doing this. Now, for instance, in Volkswagen, we're talking about 700,000 units of reduction. Why? Because this is what the markets currently demand. Now, the European market, compared to the pre-COVID times, is down by 15%. So we have to make adjustments, of course, in terms of sales volumes. We closed the Brussels plant of Audi. For Dresden, the Dresden plant, we have assumed responsibility to shift its focus to become a research location. In Osnabrück, we're still working on finding a solution. Currently, no solution has been taken yet. We're currently in talks with defense companies. Throughout the course of the year, we will make an announcement about the future. When it comes to Scout, there has been earlier information that we're running out of control of our investment costs. No, that's not correct. What is correct is that we had higher costs related to higher plant and installation costs because demand in the U.S. currently is very high, thanks to the IRA legislation. And we have included more investments in a further product portfolio like a range extender for vehicles. We included a supplier's park. So it's $1.2 billion of extra costs, out of which $900 million have already been compensated for. So we are anywhere between 2.3 or 2.6 billion, and 300 million of which is for the supplier park. now we have done very good cost work and have compensated for the extra cost of the range extender the range extender now is a priority because the majority of pre-orders or reservations are for the range extender model currently the the schedule date is 2028 and that's the timeline that we're currently pursuing and would you say water on our investment portfolio yeah Now, for that portfolio, we're always happy to get the financial contribution out of it. But the crux of the matter is that we want to focus on our core business. And you just gave some examples. So we have some examples. We sold ItalDesign. There are some small elements here of Sinotrack. We want to increase the free float of Trayton. Trayton so far has been listed only by 10% or 11%. And a higher free float will be better for the Trayton share, of course. And not least of all, Avalance. Now, we started activities there. They're in very good shape right now. And we want to sell the majority of Everland to a financial or strategic investor, we need to see, to discuss, in order to team up with an investor to propel Everland into the future, because Everland has a lot of earnings potential, needs a lot of investments as well. But I think it's a win-win situation, both for Everland and for Volkswagen.

Let's go to the other side. Start with Christian Nüskens, Emma said, and then Monika, Raymond, Bloomberg. Christian, over to you first. Microphone will be with you in a minute. Thank you so much. Could you, Mr. Blume, tell us a bit about Skoda? Skoda, more than 8% return, while Porsche hasn't earned anything. I'm exaggerating a bit here. But Skoda apparently does a lot of things right. And can you tell us a bit about regulation? There were some changes when it comes to phasing out combustion engines. Are you happy politics-wise? What are your further demands? Mr. Niskin, Skoda, I can only praise them. They do an excellent job. We notice it when it comes to how our products are accepted in the market. Of course, when we cross-compare it, Skoda and Volkswagen, Skoda has a different cost position in Eastern Europe. And if we compare it to other brands, we have to see that the focus business of Skoda is in Europe, whereas other brands are strongly impacted by how the market in China developed and also by the tariff situation in the U.S. Compared to Porsche, what happens is we have massive one-off effects and restructuring costs that came in last year. If you deduct those, you see that Porsche still has a very strong return. So the substance of the company is that we deemed it to be right to have everything settled in one year so that from this year onwards with Porsche you will see an upward trend. As regards CO2, well, that's one of the major issues that we are addressing with the authorities in Brussels. at the moment. And of course there are major discussions, various discussions for 2035. We think that it's important to simplify calculations so that at the end it's not confusing to consumers. We are up and moving for electrification because we believe this is the superior drive for the future. Still we need more flexibility. I can imagine that we have a transitional period from 2035 onwards that maybe even starts a bit earlier in 2033 and then goes up to 2040 in order to give the automotive companies the opportunity to go the way of compensation depending on how the markets develop. What is more decisive, and I will not cease to underline it, is regulation for 2030. If we can't come to terms with that, then by 2035 we won't be through with everything. That's why I clearly for a transitional period that is required. For 2025 to 2027, we already have it, but for 2028 to 2032, we go for another transitional period to have a longer balancing period without losing a single gram of CO2. And helpful are models where, for example, smaller cars in the electric arena are coming with special credits. I can well imagine that cars that are made in Europe come with a certain localized content with the electric cars that they also get a positive credit. We have to come to such a solution which is pragmatic for the industry that can be handled. The industry shows, with the example of Volkswagen here, that we have excellent products coming to the market. The cost position will be better and better with our new urban car family or the ID.1 from 2027 onwards. And it also depends on the market condition. The infrastructure charging infrastructure plays a role. It's developed rather positively in many countries. We have catching up to do in the cities, in regional areas, and energy prices play a role. We see it in China, where you pay two to three cents per kilowatt hour. In many countries here, we're at a completely different level, and consumers, of course, Calculate that. You have to come from both sides. You have to provide the conditions and be pragmatic at where moving. And my focus at the moment is at 2030. We have to solve this issue for the entire European automotive industry. If you allow me, I would like to add one more thing. You have compared Skoda with Porsche. The Skoda example is rather encouraging for the Volkswagen brand as well, because Skoda has excellent products, but on a Volkswagen platform, on a group platform. and acts in a difficult environment, ramp up e-mobility and it shows what you can achieve with a good cost position and Volkswagen has moved towards this. We have started a major program with Volkswagen Employees are reducing costs, stepping up productivity. And last year in Volkswagen AG, we have reduced staff by 9,000. Factory costs were reduced by 20%. And it's rather encouraging for Volkswagen as well that moves forward major steps to reduce cost structures. And that's what the result shows this year. Now, Oliver Blume has talked about regulation in Europe. Christian's question was answered. Spiegel, Andrea Malan, Automotive News, Europe. I think your question should be covered. If not, please send me another question. But the questions were of a similar nature. We go to Monika Raymond-Bloomberg. Let's give her the microphone. You have the floor. Vielen Dank. Thank you, Mr. Blume. In the media, there was an interview. There were various interviews with my colleagues. And in those, you announced that the goal of 10% market share in the US is no longer realistic. And I wanted to ask a question specifically on that point. What is your vision for Volkswagen in the US? What is your short-term goal and what is your mid-term goal? And how do you see the opportunities for Audi and Porsche to ramp up volumes again? And what kind of margin can you expect in the coming years in the U.S.? Thank you. Right. Ms. Raymond, the United States continue to be – significant market for us, and we do see growth in the outlook with the group. We have a relatively low market share in the United States at the moment. We have a bit over 4%, so, yes, that can be expanded. At the moment, because of the trade political issues, we do see pressure. We have a strong localized footprint in Mexico with a current terrorist of 27.5% with many cars. It's no longer worthwhile to export them from Mexico into the U.S. That's basically what the market decline or market share decline is about that we have shown here. Be that as it may, we keep investing a lot in the U.S. with Scout. And for Audi, we also do see potential to move into a new car segment. We have not declined Audi production there, but I have a very clear position. We have to find compensation mechanisms for tariffs. We can't pay high tariffs and then at the same time invest into a factory. With the expansion of capacities, we are moving forward step by step. Therefore Porsche itself In the future, we do see potential in the United States. Last year, despite tariffs, was a record year for Porsche in the United States. We have lots of Porsche aficionados in the U.S. There is an excellent sales potential, but at the moment, we hardly earn any money there. because Porsche is exporting 100% of its cars, 15% of tariffs come on top of the cars exported from Europe to the US. That's something which Porsche is suffering from. But all in all, the United States is very interesting for us. The 10% that were mentioned historically in the Volkswagen Group, are moved to the future because of the strong Mexico footprint. Once there would be a regulation for that, that would be supporting, and we're now thinking about it step by step. Scout, for example, would bring us another percent of market share, also with the other activities that we have with Volkswagen and Audi that will support us. With the new Tiguan, we are in the United States. That will give us a further push. And we are looking at it on a project by project basis, and then we'll do the market share. But 10% is rather a long-term outlook at the moment.

Paulina Wömminghauser from Süddeutsche is next, and Andreas Schweiger from Braunschweig . I have a question about the VW plant in Salzgitter. You said first batteries will be coming out of Salzgitter this year. Do you have a timeline for that? And what's your summary of the first couple of months? How well has the SOP of the factory worked so far? Well, we want to be the first European carmaker that makes sure to build and fully ramp up the battery factory. This is an extremely complex endeavor. I think we've prepared really well. We had a sample factory in China that already produced battery cells in series. We trained our teams. The equipment installation has worked really well, and we've started on time last year with the first series produced battery cells. The challenging thing in the battery production is that it is top-notch automation technology at work in the sense that battery cells are produced at an extremely high speed, high fast pace, so production equipment is laced together, so we're planning to fully wrap up the factory in the next couple of months, so it is our expectation that in the second half, the company or the factory will leave its full production line. Now, like in any battery cell production launch, this is a major endeavor. I've been to Saskatoon myself just recently. I have an excellent impression of technology and the team, but we need to solve problems there day in, day out. We do that. We resolve those, and we're confident that we make it happen. And we believe that this know-how then can be transferred to Valencia and Canada. in waves or in individual segments. And we believe that our own battery cell production, our battery cell know-how, will make us resilient and make us independent of Asian OEMs. So if you look at the mix of world regions and footprint to where we are present, we will be more competitive for both in technologies and cost potentials. Andreas Weiger is next, please.

Thank you.

Two questions, one for Mr. Blumer and one for Mr. Antlitz. Mr. Blumer, so far Chinese competition in Germany is rather moderate. It's visible, but still it's a niche player. When do you think they will be pervasive? And Mr. Antlitz, there's a significant debt level on your balance sheet, more than 400 billion, was it 440 billion of debt? Is that an order of magnitude that is customary for a group like yours, or is that still a trouble spot? Because the total amount is actually impressive in quotes. Well, maybe I'll take your question on China first. It's been abundantly clear now that the Chinese manufacturers have identified Europe as a market for their products. They're hardly making any money anymore in China because of the fierce competition there and the pricing pressure in China. In Europe, they can make good money with their vehicles, and the Chinese currently cannot export their products to the United States. So in that sense, yes, that's their main focus. And we do realize and see that Chinese OEMs are approaching Europe in concentric circles around Germany, especially in markets where there are few or very limited local production of vehicles. And then changing over there to a Chinese brand is easier than, like, in Germany, right, where we have very strong homegrown brands. But we will have to assume that the Chinese vehicle brands also will be getting a foothold here in Germany. Currently, we do not feel or do not see any noticeable effect, adverse effect on Volkswagen and the Volkswagen products. That's because of our solid product substance. European customers appreciate our brands, not only the brands, but the design, the quality, our service offerings. that we are building here for many years. But we have to be prepared for pricing pressure on us as well. So it's more than anything an incentive for us to bring costs down even further. So what we've started doing is exactly the right way forward. We will continue on that. Because we will not be more resilient in terms of products in the future, but also the pricing positions. We will be competing with those Chinese OEMs on that basis. I need to say a few words and put your answer in context first. Not only our business model I'd like to talk about, but the entire car industry. There's an automotive division and the financial services division, which is a very common thing to happen in the sense that we're selling vehicles to dealerships, to wholesale customers, but half of vehicles are sold to financial services. So they appear on the balance sheet of financial services and are then leased out to customers. Customers pay with their lease rates, and then in the second step, those are sold on at a later point. That's a typical element of our business model. So you have to distinguish between the automotive division and the financial services division. So in the automotive division, we have a positive liquidity of more than €34 billion. So it's a positive balance sheet, if you will, which is 10% of revenues, which is solid. But we want to increase that level step by step in order to be even more resilient. So we need more financial contribution to make sure we keep that 10%. So 330 billion of... revenue so 33 34 of net liquidity which is 10 must be maintained and thanks to the positive cash flow in 2025 we managed to do that now in a bank which is a regulated institution the situation is different depends on the equity ratio of the bank and they are in good shape but now finn the german regulator makes provisions on your equity levels that you need to maintain if you operate as a bank. Our equity level is actually above those statutory requirements. So I should say on both sides, we're in good shape, despite the high debt level. Debt is part of our business model. But what is important is to manage our risk properly. And we're positive. We have a good history of financial services to manage our residuals and residual risks. So with that in mind, yes, we're in a solid position, but we need to increase that solidity, this robustness, because we're navigating difficult times.

Let's go back to the other side. Lazar Bakovic from Handelsblatt and then the colleague Mr. Otto from Politico. Thank you. Thank you to the two of you. I have three questions. I'd start with a geopolitical situation. You have already talked about major headwinds because of the situation in China and there are tariffs in the U.S. Now a next crisis comes in the war in Iran and in the Gulf region. Can you give us some insight how that hits you, be it in logistics, questions of markets, thinking of Porsche and the luxury market that's very strong in the Gulf region, so that's the first question. Second question on the group situation, that's to add to Frank Johansen as to whether you can give us a timeline as to when a second savings program would be coming out. The third thing is about cash flow and the effects. you have now through the cash flow components bonus payments to board of management members. Can you imagine to waive the bonus payments or subsequent year if the situation is tense for 2026 to waive this component and how do you handle the situation that the employees demand to have a profit participation scheme. Can you tell us about this? Mr. Bakovic, I would like to start and like to ask Arno to add to me. So first on the geopolitical situation, we see just how volatile our world is. Every month new topics seem to be cropping up, but that's our motivation to simply work and continue to work compared to the competition. Last year we were able to compensate for many issues which we no longer see among our competitors. But be that as it may, we will not get the world we desire to have. We have the real world and we can't avoid our eyes. As regards the Middle East, we don't see any interference when it comes to logistics or parts supply. What we do see very clearly, it's really early, what we will see is sales in Middle East, in particular for our premium brands. Of course, that is a significant region. We've shown it before. Last year, we had a positive development in Africa and Middle East of 10%. and we have to wait and see what's coming now. We have a very fine-tuned and transparent system of parts supply. We drill down rather deeply into the supply chains. We can react at short notice if we see something popping up, but currently I can say we have everything under control. But, of course, we will observe it diligently. Now, on the further transformation, I think the geopolitical situation is quite a good point to start from it. We are living in a world that has changed quickly in a short span of time, so our motivation is to move forward. We are quite self-assertive here because many things we were able to achieve in the last three years, and only because we were able to do it, we are above the water. But that's, of course, not a certainty that we have for the future, as we see with the case of the Middle East just now. And the transformation plan mainly wants to change, to adapt our business model to the new conditions we are working in. far shorter cycles. In the past, strategies were set up for 10 years. You could see what would be coming in in five years' time and in subsequent years. Today, this is no longer the case. We have to have a year-on-year basis, and we want to work with a target picture for 2030, although we know 2030 is still four years in the future. We don't really know what's happening, but we have to adapt our structures when it comes to products, when it comes to technologies, and also when it comes to the cost structure. And that is a continuous amount of work. And on the one hand, we will provide stability to the company in the project. It's important for the teams to focus on it. And regularly, we will always question the necessities. And we'll actually upturn each and every step. We need all the contributions. We go through the entire process chain. And step by step, we will announce where we go in. but i can tell you what is encouraging for us right now is that everyone understood it in the company and everyone's working on it hands-on to move forward the company now on cash flow i think ano will add to this We had demands out there to link it to a kind of recognition, premium or bonus. Now, with Volkswagen, I have to say, it was a contribution by many brands and many regions, and in the past, we did not couple a kind of bonus to the cash flow. with revenues and with expenditure, we had a different significance there. But on the company town hall meeting in Wolfsburg last week, we said that we are looking at such a participation bonus at a later point of time with the result not being clear yet. That's what we're usually doing. We look at each and every brand, find out which brand contributed what. and we'll then discuss it in the Group Board of Management. And I'm quite explicitly saying it here. We will not bring that in the context of the net cash flow. Net cash flow is a component that a couple of years ago we used for Group Board of Management members because it is an important key indicator and it's important for the interest that we need to pay in the overall payment for board members. It's one-eighth. that is influenced by the net cash flow. And with board of management remuneration of compensation, you see the focus of compensation is linked to bonus about 80% with group board of management members. And because of the results that we're having at the moment and the many parameters that we have, this bonus component alone went down significantly in a higher two-digit arena. For all of the rest that is out there, the Group Board of Amendment has decided to voluntarily waive 11%. That's in the context of the reduction that we've done in collective bargaining, pay scales, but it's overproportional. And now you have to calculate it, the overproportional reduction. of 11% of what stays and the massive reduction of the bonus which is part of board compensation. I think those are the rules and they are fair and it is fair that the board of management carries and showed us the biggest burden of the reduction. Maybe Arno can talk on this. So I would like to add to this because it's always the question, why did we focus so much on cash flow? Well, rightfully, Mr. Schweiger said before, we need solidity. That's our top goal. And one of the core indicators is net liquidity in automotive. That's a key indicator for how good and how solid a company is financed in a difficult environment. We want to keep it to 10%. And we're at 34.5, 10% is 33. In summer, we were at zero. So you can calculate if zero had come, what would have happened? We would have gone below the important key figure, which is why we had such a focus on it. The solidity, the financial solidity of Volkswagen is to be strengthened, which is why we set up a team. in order to work on the contents, reduce inventories, reduce capex, reduce development costs, and we spent less for M&A. That was the focus, so that at the end we have a balance sheet that is a solid one. That was the background for this task force.

Now we continue with Mr. Otter.

Please, you have the next question.

Thank you very much, Mr. Blume. You talked about Powerco based in Canada. Now you plan to continue your investments there. Now in that context, has the federal government, the German government, asked you to invest more in Canada now? Because... the Canada project in the car industry has also been a prerequisite for the submarine deal with Tucson Crip and the Canadian government. And the second question refers to Brussels. Do you feel that there's enough support for regulation on the part of the German government? Are you talking to Brussels directly, or you continue to use your channels with the government in Berlin? First off, on Powerco, we are in a trusted relationship with the Canadian government. I regularly continue this exchange with the Canadian government, and we're very happy with the progress of the battery cell project in Canada. And we currently also consider teaming up with commodity projects. Now, we will see individually what makes sense for the Volkswagen group to get involved in. There are, of course, different fields of cooperation, so Canada and Germany. Why? Because we see that Canada is a very reliable partner for us, but we are not related or couple our activities to any other business deals. So what that means is we look at what makes sense for us, for Volkswagen. When you talk about the raw materials, a commodity partnership with a country, well, possibly other European manufacturers could get involved in order to increase the relative volume. And I think Canada has a lot to offer there. I can also always play back that ball. It's really good and constructive collaboration we have with Canada. Now, as far as the Brussels regime and regulation is concerned, we also feel great support from the German government. I have traveled to China with the federal chancellor just recently. There's always a chance to talk and engage in that type of exchange. And the Federal Chancellor is very much aware of the fact that we're a car-making country, and he realizes that we need pragmatic solutions for this car industry in order to safeguard its future. But at the same time, we are liaising with other countries, countries where we have a footprint and talk to politicians there in those countries. And whenever I have the opportunity to talk to them, I provide advice and consultancy technical know-how, at the end of the day, it's the politicians who decide. And the same is true for our involvement in Brussels. All I can say is reiterate and echo what's important to provide reliability and planning certainty for the car industry. Now, with that, there are also questions that have been answered already that you have asked about the Middle East and Brussels. Now, let's return to Alexander Dimling. A brief couple of questions on the Rivian joint venture for Mr. Antlitz that we've seen here for the first time in the full year. What about the OPEX? Because these have been borne by Volkswagen as well. So what's the order of magnitude there? Can you say that? And can you explain how you internally spread the cost from the different brands? Because you're developing a joint software, but no vehicles are out there or sold yet. So how do you finance that? And with that collaboration, you have become a rather large shareholder of Rivian. Are you looking at board seat in the medium term perhaps? And a question for Mr. Blumer. In brand group core, there's a new governance model that you've now found where the brands don't have their own board members on individual disciplines anymore or segments anymore. Is that something you're planning to do also with other brand groups perhaps going forward for progressive? Would that be possible with closer cooperation between Audi and Porsche? And if no, why not? Okay, let me take a shot first. You didn't talk about the general investment landscape, but about our operating business. Well, what we did is we set up a joint venture, and we included all software and coding activities, most of them from Rivian, some from Volkswagen as well, and our financing injection of one billion. And that team now develops software. basic software that is used by both entities with some specific adjustments here and there. And then there's a system where we are much larger. In the first years, our contribution was higher, more than 50%, in other words, and Rivian has contributed less, which is a fair thing to do, given the size of our companies. Now, our 50% share stays with Volkswagen, and now you would use different mechanisms to apply those different costs or apportion those costs to different brands, in the sense that those who produce more cars have to pay a higher prorated share depending on their volumes or planned volumes of vehicles but there's also a per item or per unit license so everyone who's contributing in other words need to pay back otherwise Bentley would be paying nothing because they virtually have no volume or a little volume so we have an agreement with the tax authorities globally how to use that payments or contribution system within the brands or between the different brands depending on their sales volumes and how costs will be allocated accordingly.

And I have to follow up on that last question.

We haven't communicated that yet. We are currently not seeking a board seat. We're focusing more on synergies that we want to tap together, pooling our procurement activities, develop or use some modules together in similar vehicles, use the same software. If you take Scout and Rivian, for instance, these are the operational fields that we're currently engaged in. And I think we can make a contribution out of Volkswagen for Rivian. Now, Mr. Demling, can I continue with your second question, the brand group core? That was one of the initiatives that we've had in our plan to improve group governance, make group governance more efficient with Volkswagen, Skoda, and Cupra. and Volkswagen commercial vehicles, we have identified many synergies, and they can be controlled or governed centrally, and therefore we streamlined that. For the progressive brand group, synergies are not too great, because we're talking about Bentley and Lamborghini, quite different business models there. Rather, we use the same platforms together. We use that. Nat Bentley uses predominantly the Porsche platforms. There's also cooperation fields between Audi and Porsche where we share certain platform components, and this is what the synergies are focused on. In general group governance, we try to address group objectives together. On the 1st of April, we have the extended group management that is attached to my function. because we want to show that sign of independence for the entire company to realize where the independence is. And at the same time, it supports functional programs along the transformation line, a solid consistent line, as we also used in our performance enhancing programs. So R&D, group production, group procurement, group sales, beginning on the 1st of April will be centrally headed by myself. There's not going to be any staffing changes, so people who have been in the leadership roles will stay there and will continue to use operational tasks. Christian Vollmer, for instance, is in charge of VW production, Marco Schubert in sales for Audi, and they, in addition, also perform group functions that come to my field of responsibility. All of that is used to streamline our group governance structures, and more of those streamlining activities will be expected throughout the year.

So we go forward. Sebastian Esch, Financial Times, is the second. Yes, thank you. I have two questions. When you rework the transformation plan, can we understand that about the $6 billion savings, you want to have more and you want to do more than the $50,000 savings? posts that you want to reduce and in the course of the year you will give us more precise information when will that be and with a forecast which oil price is the basis for your forecast. I start with the first part and you can maybe tell us something about the oil price. So, in order to understand this transformation plan, let me tell you, it's for the entire company, for the business model of our company. And we're now in a situation, let me give you a picture, where we actually have feel the ground on our feet again, after having come to terms with lots of technical issues, and we can now do it ourselves, we're capable to act ourselves, and now we want to start the next phase. Part of the transformation plan will, of course, be cost efficiency and improvement of cost structures. And within the cost structure, there is a smaller part, what we did with the so-called future PACs. They are already part of the performance programs, but they're a fraction, a rather small part of it. because the big cost levers come from other areas. For example, from the areas that I just mentioned, from the development process, from procurement, material costs play a major role, and from sales, from production. And we will now consistently stay on the path that we agreed upon in the future pact. And then, of course, we continue to check where do we need to go further steps, for example, with overheads. Arno Antlitz has shown the positive development that we had, quite substantial improvement, and we continue working on it, but we're not hitting the target yet. And for all of the cost items at the end, we need to do a benchmark exercise also outside of Germany, also with competitors. So that's the plan. In the course of the year, we'll go through various packages step by step. It's various ones that we have there. And what I said before, whenever we have topics ready for communication, we will share it with you like we did it in the past. Maybe on the oil price? Yes, with the oil price, just roughly, it was at around $60. And we have very long-term contracts for oil and for gas. So on our procurement side for our power plants, we will not be hit immediately. Of course, these contracts will be phased out, and then subsequent contracts need to be negotiated. From today's point of view, we don't take it seriously. that this is going to be a long-term effect. And from today's point of view, we don't expect significant effects on the sales side at our customers will be coming in. But of course, we're observing the situation carefully. But cost-wise, the financial guy would say we're hedged. Sebastian Asch, Financial Times. Thank you. I would like to come in talking about the same topic. How would a longer war or conflict in the Middle East possibly influence sales numbers and the demand for cars worldwide? And my second question, you said that Ralf Brandstetter will give some more insight into the business in China, but can you maybe indicate as to what you expect for this year, and will the new cars have an effect, the cars coming in with the new software, or will things go on like last year with a lower operating result in the Chinese business? Thank you. Well, let me start with the second question. The first question is difficult. Maybe we can share it. Let me come to the second question. So this year, depending on how you calculate, we have five or with derivatives, seven completely new models on the market. And in the second quarter, this will start and moves towards third and fourth quarter. Electric cars, wonderful electric cars, range extenders, together with SAIC. And we expect that in the third and fourth quarter, they will lead to clearly better sales numbers in electric vehicles and will impact our market share Q3, Q4. We always said three or four years ago, 2026, fourth quarter, we should see the positive effects. because of the launch situation or ramp-up situation the pro rata operating result in china we expect it to be a bit weaker than in 2025 but with a positive tendency and then in 2027 we will see a clearly positive leave but we wanted to leave it up to ralph bradstetter to explain the details in the capital market communication he has these wonderful cars around him that's an overall package then Yes, and if I may, maybe also structurally to give you some insight into the Chinese market, the Volkswagen Group is by far the market leader with internal combustion engines with 22% market share. And we started the year with a rather strange, funny situation. The Volkswagen Group has started as the overall market leader. This is to do with the fact because the EUV market in January declined. We won't be able to keep it up for the year, but this is just a little information. We're still strong there, and We'll go in this market strongly car-wise and technology-wise. We are convinced of these. We're testing them. And five years ago, I would have told you it's a no-brainer, and this will be moving forward in the Chinese market. We do have this massive... competitive situation with more than 150 competitors. So it's no guarantee. We have come into a situation that we can be part of the game. We have wonderful products, but it's going to be quite some hard work over the next few years with the product drive that Arno Antlitz referred to. You see, for example, our new Audi that we have launched there was a selected car of the year in China. This is the most prestigious award from the journalists, and still Audi has to be successful in competition. It's no guarantee compared to previous years where you only had 10 competitors in the market. That's the situation in China. We are confident. But with these products, of course, you have to give them some time so that they come into the dealerships and the customers in this segment where we don't play a role are convinced of them. Now, on the Middle East itself, the market as such, when it comes to our 9 million portfolio, it's not particularly big. It's a small one-digit number. But still, it's strong in margins. And it's one further topic coming our way. And, of course, it all adds up. And, you know, there are issues that we thought we had dealt with, like Russia, for example, where we lost more than 200,000 units. Ukraine, in particular, for the premium brands, that's a very important market, which simply is no longer there in this form. United States, then China. Now the next thing comes in, Middle East. And customers in Middle East, of course, are rather insecure. They are uncertain. There will be downturn. And at the end of the year, we will see what comes out. But of course, it will have an effect. But currently, it's this multitude of individual issues coming in. and then together they are a problem. All the more important that when it comes to the cost work, we are moving forward, influencing what we have in our hands, and we are compensating that with that. If you take the general substance of the Volkswagen Group, we have massively improved over recent years, but many things are lost because of the effects that we have on the outside.

I'm mindful of the clock, but I'd still take Stefan Wilmer from the Wall Street Journal and the final one from Claudius Scholz of Pioneer Media. Thank you very much. Just one question on autonomous driving. Referring to the robotaxis based in Hamburg, occasionally, my question would be, how do you see level 2 plus autonomous driving? So you seem to be lagging behind your competitors. So what's the outlook there for Audi and Porsche in terms of a little two plus? First off, robotaxis, we're quite confident and we're making progress there. This year we're going to grow our test operations. We'll be adding Oslo, Berlin as well. So driving in the inner cities. We have cities, actually dozens of cities who are asking us to do our test drives there to add to their existing public transport system. We're starting with Uber in Los Angeles this year. So that would be a larger market for the 2030s, we believe. So it's a double-digit billions market. and that is expected there, you know, market research, and consultants expect that, and that's where the market will be concentrated. We're the only European company offering that AD technology, so it goes well for the future, I think. Generally speaking, you're right, when it comes to autonomous driving, we have been lagging behind, but we are closing that gap now with massive strides. In China now, with our Horizon Robotics cooperation, which is Carriot and Horizon Robotics, and the venture is called Corizon, we will be present in that market. And with our European vehicles, we will be showing what can be done with level 2++ driving in the United States by 2027. We work with Mobileye for instance and also Bosch to do just that. So currently we're catching up massively so. And we also see now the market is developing. Our tests that we're currently conducting are very promising with the products that we have out there. So all the automated assist functions and driving functions are clearly on par with the competitors, especially in the premium and luxury segment. And the final question goes to Claudia Schultz.

Thank you.

There have been some negative developments in Porsche in the past year. Why did it end up with a zero of a goodwill assessment of the brand name? Then there was lower capitalization for R&D, products currently under development, more depreciation. Is your balance sheet policy more conservative? Why is the capitalization ratio so low? And finally, the other reserves have been dissolved now, 5 billion, 21.4. Other reserves have been utilized, and still 27.6 billions were created. So 6.2 billion more reserves created than the ones drawn on. Isn't that the compensation of the profit of the company? I'm going to say a few words on Porsche, and then Arne will talk about your financial indicators that you've just quoted. And, mind you, I'm not going to say too much about Porsche, because they will have another annual press conference coming up, and there will be more figures presented there. And again, the general situation of Porsche is, and I mentioned it earlier, is that Porsche exports all its vehicles from China and the United States. The Chinese luxury market has plummeted by 80% within a very short period, despite the hit ones there and obviously for a number of reasons and that market will not swing back to normal again plus we have the tariff problem in the US it has been a record year for Porsche on the one hand but they lost out on the other hand because of the high tariffs and secondly Porsche also has a high portfolio or big portfolio of electric vehicles So it's one of the leading companies in the car industry with a level of electrification, but you know that margins in e-mobility is not that high. You could ask the question, why is Porsche building EVs anyway? Well, if they hadn't done it, the company would be punished harshly by the carbon emissions taxation. So that decision was right in other words. We've taken decisions alongside the electrification strategy that will still be continued. The electric, all-electric Cayenne will be launching soon. It's a fantastic vehicle. So we will invest also in ICE models going forward. And it's also true to say that Porsche has always used flexible strategies. They want to have both IECs and EVs in every segment, but not for every model. Now the Macan is a model where our decision was taken to also produce it with an IEC and a hybrid drive. Now, major restructuring is also underway because if you see if the Chinese market is shrinking, which accounts for 25% of the overall Porsche volume, just China alone. So the dealer network in China needs to be adjusted accordingly. You have to adjust your own organization. You need to bring capacities down if that happens. So, yes, a larger restructuring package is underway there. About 4,000 jobs have already been agreed to be reduced. So what that means is that additional strain plus the electrification strategy that requires us to make reserves at Porsche, also compensation payments for suppliers, all of that was accounted for within one year. So we want to do it within one full year and now in the new year we want to grow again and develop Porsche forward. So if you deduct those one-off effects, Porsche continues to be one of the strongest financial player of the industry. The brand value of Porsche is very strong. So we assume that gradually Porsche will move up again. But again, With that massive headwind we are facing, it will never be in the area or the realms we've been before. And that's not only true for Porsche, but for the entire car industry. But Porsche has been particularly hit because of our high export ratio in these two regions. So this is why we feel it more than anything. Okay, well, really mindful of the clock, we're actually running out of time, but let me say that part of the special effects were related to the appreciation of Porsche Goodwill that we had in our balance sheet, which was 2.7 billion euros. So that was part of this one-time effect. It's the one that you just mentioned in your question. No, it was on our balance sheet, and it referred to our Porsche Goodwill. Now, when it comes to R&D spending and capitalization of R&D, well, that is related to the fact that how much in total you spend, but it's not for us to decide, to choose how much we capitalize. Why? Because there are very strict rules. There is a product development process, PEP for short. Every vehicle has to go through the product development process, and beginning at one milestone, With the level of product maturity, you capitalize the cost on your vehicle project, and it will show in the balance sheet. Before that, it goes to your profit and loss account, and that ends or this results in a capitalization ratio. It's not to do with the business policy. Part of our new SSP platform that we're currently developing for our electric strategy also includes multiple activities which happened before the milestone of the PEP that I just mentioned. So this is shown in the profit and loss account. Now, as they move along in the maturity, they get capitalized, and the auditors also review that. They're very strictly defined processes that allow you to do that and to be on the safe side. And when it comes to reserves, of course, there are so many things for which you create reserves. Warranty costs, it's used up, and then new reserves are created for restructuring, for job cuts. You created a reserve for the new alignment of your projects, and those reserves are also drawn on. throughout the year. We created reserves for the factory closure of Brussels and then eliminated over the years because the payments will have to be made. Okay, with all that, thank you very much to Oliver Blum and Ando Antlitz and thanks to all of you, dear colleagues, for being here with us, for asking these questions. It has been our pleasure to have you here at the annual media conference of Volkswagen Group. Thank you very much. Have a great day and see you soon. Thank you.