Volkswagen has slashed its 2004 profit target following weak first-half earnings.

The company now expects to post operating profit before special items of 1.9 billion euros (£1.3 billion) for the full year, compared with its original guidance of more than 2.5 billion.

Before special items, operating profit for the first half fell 19.8 percent to 979 million euros (£648m) on revenues of 45.9 billion euros (£30.4 billion), a rise of 7.3 percent.

First half operating profits were forecast to drop to 821 million euros (£544m) compared to the 1.22 billion (£808m) earned in the previous year.