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Volkswagen has signalled that its annual profit targets are at risk without sufficient computer chips, in the latest sign that an expected shortage of semiconductors from China could hit carmakers across Europe.
The struggling German automotive firm said a series of cost cuts and new model launches were helping to offset a slump in Chinese demand, but it added that forecasts were based on the “adequate availability of semiconductors”.
Carmakers in the EU have said they may have to close production lines amid dwindling supplies of chips from Nexperia, the Chinese-owned producer.
Beijing banned exports from Nexperia after the Dutch government took over the company, which is based in the Netherlands, at the end of September and suspended its Chinese chief executive after the US raised security concerns.
VW company sold 6.6m cars in the first nine months of 2025, up 1.8% year on year. It forecast an operating profit between 2% and 3% for the full year but said US trade tariffs were dragging on its most popular cars. The levies are expected to cost €5bn (£4.4bn) this year, said Arno Antlitz, VW’s chief financial officer.
Volkswagen reported a €1.3bn operating loss after a U-turn on its EV strategy at its subsidiary Porsche, announced in September, set it back €4.7bn in writedowns.
Antlitz said on Thursday the chip problem was “not a technical shortfall or a capacity shortfall. It’s really induced by political discussion, and this is where we hope that all the relevant parties sit together and find solutions.”
Germany, which counts Volkswagen as one of its manufacturing powerhouses, reported a further stagnation in economic growth on Thursday. Gross domestic product was 0% in the last quarter as weak global demand and US tariffs continued to hit exports from the country.
The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) said this week that carmakers were days away from closing production lines because of the chip shortage. In 2021 a shortage of chips related to the Covid pandemic hampered car production.
Volkswagen has had some success in countering a slowdown in deliveries to China by launching new models. Its latest electric vehicles, including the Skoda Elroq, which entered production this year, have helped to boost sales.
Antlitz said the product launches were paying off and VW was making progress on a restructuring programme, but “the financial result is significantly weaker compared to the previous year. This is partly due to the ramp-up of lower-margin electric vehicles.”
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Carmakers are also under pressure from a Chinese ban on rare earth exports. Donald Trump said on Thursday that Beijing had agreed to end a ban on deliveries of the minerals to the US for the next year. Talks are due to take place in Brussels over the issue.
Separately, the Vauxhall and Jeep owner Stellantis reported a 13% jump in third-quarter revenue and shipments compared with last year, in early signs of a turnaround under its new chief executive, Antonio Filosa.
Stellantis said sales rose to 1.3m vehicles, also buoyed up by new product launches. A third of the year-on-year increase in sales came in the US, where it owns the Ram, Chrysler and Dodge brands.
The European Central Bank kept interest rates on hold on Thursday for the third meeting in a row despite concerns that a modest economic recovery across the eurozone will fuel inflation.
The ECB kept its key deposit rate at 2% despite annual price growth rising to 2.2% across the 20-member euro bloc in September, up from 2% in August and 1.7% a year earlier.
In the 27-member EU, annual inflation was 2.6% in September, up from 2.4% in August, according to Eurostat.
The eurozone economy expanded by 0.2% in the third quarter from the previous three months, according to preliminary data from the European Commission published on Thursday.
The increase was higher than the 0.1% City analysts expected of 0.1%, with the rise driven mainly by strong performances in Spain, which expanded by 0.6%, and a 0.5% increase in France.
The ECB rate decision follows a divergence across the eurozone in prices growth, which the central bank is expected to maintain at about 2%.
Cyprus kept inflation at zero, while it increased modestly to 1.1% in France and 1.8% in Italy and Greece. However, Romania reported an inflation rate of 8.6%, to add to Estonia’s 5.3% and Slovakia’s 4.6%.
The ECB has said it is concerned by the high level of inflation from services, food and energy. However, it has trimmed its main deposit rate to 2% over the past year and a half – about half the rate in the UK and US.
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The Bank of England is widely expected to keep its headline rate at 4% when its policymakers meet on 6 November. On Wednesday the US Federal Reserve trimmed its benchmark rate by a quarter point to a range of 3.75% to 4%, the second cut this year.
