Seat reduces its operating profit by 62.5% and Volkswagen by almost 99%

BarcelonaThe car manufacturer Seat has reduced its operating profit by 62.5% in the first nine months of the year, compared to the same period last year. Thus, the company's operating profit has gone from the 16 million registered up to September 2025 to 6 million this year. In the same vein, its parent company, Volkswagen, has reduced the profits obtained from its main activity by 98.7% compared to 2025, to 71 million euros, compared to 5,408 a year ago. The German-origin group has recorded losses of 2.72 billion and warns of the need to accelerate its 31 billion savings plan.

To explain the decline in operating profit, Volkswagen recalled that last year they had extraordinary items of 8.7 billion euros that were not present this year, and also pointed to the weakness of the Chinese market and increasing international competitive pressure. Currently, the group is immersed in a period of adjustments to recover profitability, within the framework of which it has put layoffs on the table and even a salary freeze for the entire workforce until 2030, according to a German media outlet.

"In a more competitive market environment, the increase in commercial incentive expenses and volume effects have had a negative impact compared to the same period of the previous year. To this, the unfavorable effects of the sales mix have been added, driven in part by the greater weight of electric vehicles", stated Volkswagen in the presentation of the accounts this Thursday. On the other hand, it highlighted that "the exemption from additional EU tariffs for the Cupra Tavascan manufactured in China, in force since February, has had a positive effect", although "it has not managed to fully compensate for the negative impacts".

Seat's turnover falls by 1.17%

Regarding Seat, which includes the homonymous brand and Cupra, the result contrasts with the operating profit of 122 million obtained in the first half of the year. Despite the sharp decline in operating profit, turnover until September fell by 1.17% compared to 2025, and stood at 11.109 billion euros. In contrast, group sales fell by 10.6%, to 5.88 million units, compared to the 6.58 million a year ago.

As Volkswagen announced weeks ago, the Seat and Cupra brands sold a total of 433,400 vehicles from January to September, which is 1.4% less than in the same period of 2025, when they reached 439,500 units.