Volkswagen said third-quarter operating profit at its core brand plunged more than half, adding weight to management calls for cutbacks at Volkswagen's biggest division.
Operating profit at the Volkswagen namesake brand dropped to Euro 363 million ($396 million) from 801 million a year earlier, Volkswagen said on Thursday, or just 1.5 per cent of sales.
The figure was well below a consensus forecast of 462 million euros in a Reuters poll of analysts. Europe's largest automaker needs to make savings at high-cost operations in Germany to help fund a shift to electric cars and self-driving vehicles while facing billions of euros in costs from its diesel emissions test-cheating scandal.
