VW car sales, earnings plunge during coronavirus crisis

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Volkswagen says car sales and operating earnings plunged during the first quarter but that it has plenty of cash to weather the storm. The company stressed its 17.8 billion euro ($19 billion) cash pile when it announced first quarter earnings. Operating profit sagged by 81% and car sales by 23%. But production has restarted in China and is coming back on line slowly in Europe. The company said that it remains financially strong and expects to make a profit for the year. But earnings will be “severely below” those from 2019.