TRATON charges ahead

TRATON Group, the Volkswagen Group's multi-brand truck and bus operation that encompasses Volkswagen, MAN and Scania commercial vehicles, has announced an operating profit of Euro 1 billion ($A1.6 billion) for the first half of 2019, an increase of Euro 212 million ($A342 million) over the same period last year.

Sales revenue was up by seven per cent, from Euro 12.6 billion ($A20.3 billion) to Euro 13.5 billion ($A21.8 billion), while across its brand the group sold 123,336 vehicles worldwide, with favourable economic conditions in Europe (and especially Germany) and Brazil providing a significant boost.

Sales of MAN trucks and buses were up by 10 per cent, with 54,028 vehicles sold, as were sales of Scania trucks and buses (51,524 units), with the Swedish manufacturer also recently seeing an end to the parallel production of its older models alongside its New Truck Generation range.

Volkswagen truck and bus sales accounted for 20,384 units, which equates with a rise of just over 18 per cent.

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Andreas Renschler, the CEO of TRATON GROUP and member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG, said the group's carefully orchestrated plans were bearing fruit.

"Our IPO in June demonstrates that we at TRATON are executing on our goals," he said.

"Looking forward, we are now running full steam ahead with implementing our Global Champion Strategy and leveraging additional synergies in the entire Group. At the same time, we are keeping a very watchful eye on developments in the market in order to adjust our production with flexibility."

On the flipside of TRATON Group's vehicle-focused Industrial Business division is its Financial Services segment, which offers products spanning dealer and retail financing, leasing and insurance products, among others.

The Financial Services division posted operating profit of Euro 70 million ($A113 million), up from Euro 65 million ($A105 million), and sales revenue of Euro 419 million ($A676 million), up from Euro 380 million ($A613 million).

"We had a strong start to the year and have again improved on our growth of the first quarter," said Christian Schulz, CFO of the TRATON Group.

"With an operating return on sales of 7.9 per cent for the first half of 2019, we are clearly ahead of the same period last year. Looking ahead to the rest of the year, despite continued worsening economic indicators, we remain confident and reaffirm our targets set for the year. And furthermore, we are fully focused on the launch of the new truck generation at MAN."