FRANKFURT -- Volkswagen Group denied a German magazine report that the company may miss its profit goals because of slower growth and higher-than-expected costs for the the ramp up of its MQB modular architecture.
VW Chief Financial Officer Hans Dieter Poetsch is concerned that the automaker won't meet 2015 targets and is looking to cut costs by about 1,000 euros ($1,355) per vehicle, Manager Magazin said in a report published on Thursday.
Higher than expected costs for VW's new modular assembly architecture (MQB) are weighing on profit margins, Manager Magazin said, citing company sources. It also said that several new models such as the Touran minivan and the Tiguan compact SUV were expected to be less profitable than previous versions of the models.
Poetsch made his comments to Volkswagen managers at VW's headquarters in Wolfsburg on Sept. 13, according to the magazine.
Volkswagen said the report was "without any foundation" and the company remains fully committed to its statements on the future business development of the group. The suggestion that it will not stick to its targets is "wrong," VW said in a statement.
Juergen Pieper, an analyst with Bankhaus Metzler in Frankfurt, said: "The trends show VW heading for a difficult phase for the first time in years." The sales momentum in the past two months have become "clearly weaker," he said.