Renault and Nissan profits drop, but Volkswagen achieve record sales

Renault and Nissan profits drop, but Volkswagen achieve record sales

Japanese car manufacturer Nissan and French manufacturer Renault both report a fall in net profit for the first half of the year. A 15% fall in the case of Nissan with a net income of 72.3 billion yen (£577 million), though Renault more than doubled this percentage, with a 39% fall, and a net income of 786 million euros (£615 million). However, German company Volkswagen have broken their sales records so far this year, with their net profits rising by 36% from the year before, with net profits of 8.8 billion euros (£6.9 billion).

Renault are blaming the European debt crisis for retrogressing demand, as prospective buyers are putting off making expensive purchases like motor vehicles. Chief Executive of the French car giant, Carlos Ghosn, has said "Low sales in Europe were only partly offset by strong international growth". However, Nissan are backing the quality of their new line of products, and keeping a great deal of faith in their full-year forecast of around 400 billion yen of profit. Carlos Ghosn, also Nissan's chief exec, has commented "Nissan has delivered a respectable performance in the first quarter despite challenging macro-economic conditions".

Back to Volkswagen, and the German car giant has had great success with their Bentley brand, with their sales rising to 5,000 units, an increase of almost a full half from last year. Their first half sales and deliveries rose to 4.6 million cars, which is a record increase of 8.9%. The chairman of Volkswagen's management, Professor Doctor Martin Winterkorn, has said "Our strong position in the international markets will enable us to outperform the market as a whole - despite the challenging environment".

Nissan on the other hand sold 1.2 million cars in the same period, which is a rise of 14.6%, and Renault a total of 1.33 million vehicles, which is a downward slide of 3.3%.

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