FRANKFURT — Volkswagen Group said its second-quarter operating profit rose 30 percent despite lower vehicle sales, helped by VW brand’s higher-margin utility vehicles and rising volumes at Porsche and Skoda.
Operating profit rose to 5.13 billion euros ($5.71 billion), up from 3.94 billion ($4.4 billion) in the second quarter last year, the automaker said in a statement on Thursday. Vehicle sales fell 1.8 percent.
The operating profit jump was magnified by the absence of a diesel charge that VW booked in the year-earlier period.
