Volkswagen Financial Services expects record 2017 earnings

Provisional figures show the number of customer financing contracts is expected to rise 5.2% to 6.85 million contracts worldwide (2016: 6.51 million).

The number of leasing contracts has increased by almost 14% to around 3.23 million (2016: 2.84 million).

Services business, such as maintenance and inspection contracts, is predicted to grow 16% to 3.98 million current contracts (2016: 3.44 million).

Volkswagen Financial Services also expects to have more than 5.66 million insurance contracts on its books worldwide by the end of the year, a rise of 3.7% from 5.46 million in 2016.

Growth has been driven by strong performance in new contracts.

The number of new contracts is expected to rise 4.6% to 7.92 million by the end of the year (2016: 7.58 million units).

Vehicle financing contracts are up 6.5% to 2.76 million, leasing is up 8.5% to 1.4 million contracts and service contracts will grow 1.4% to 1.54 million.

In addition, 2.2 million new insurance contracts, a rise of 2%, will be in the company’s portfolio by the end of the year.

Dr. Christian Dahlheim, chief sales officer of Volkswagen Financial Services, said: “The close and good cooperation with the Volkswagen Group brands, our attractive product portfolio and our international positioning are the basis of our success.

“The increasing availability of our products and services online will further increase the attractiveness of what we offer to our customers.”

Volkswagen Financial Services set up a digital unit in Berlin at the beginning of 2017 to develop online products.

CFO Frank Fiedler said: “By the end of 2017, we expect the operating result for the Volkswagen Financial Services division to be significantly higher than in the previous year.

“The good result is primarily based on the positive growth of our current contract portfolio and a lower level of refinancing costs than last year.”