Volkswagen Group has today reported a €3.48 billion (£2.5bn) operating loss for the third quarter of the year, and a €2.52bn (£1.8bn) pre-tax loss, due to the cost of the emissions scandal.

The manufacturer has set aside €6.7bn (£4.8bn) to cover the costs of the scandal, resulting in the first net loss in 15 years.

In September, the Volkswagen Group admitted installing a piece of software designed to cheat emissions tests in 11 million of its diesel cars worldwide, including Seat, Škoda and Audi models as well as Volkswagen cars and vans.

Matthias Müller, chief executive and chairman of the board of management, said: "The figures show the core strength of the Volkswagen Group on the one hand, while on the other the initial impact of the current situation is becoming clear.

“We will do everything in our power to win back the trust we have lost."

The Volkswagen brand’s operating profit before special items relating to the diesel issue rose to £1.6bn (€2.2bn).

Audi lifted its operating profit to £2.9bn (€4bn) and at Škoda it increased to £530m (€734m). Seat, meanwhile, reported an increase in operating profit to £8m (€12m) and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles posted an operating profit of £225m (€313m).

Operating profit at Volkswagen Financial Services amounted to £1bn (€1.4bn) on the back of positive volume and exchange rate effects.

The Volkswagen Group expects deliveries to customers in 2015 to remain on a level with the previous year, with sales revenue and its business areas is expected to increase by up to 4%.

However, a statement from the group reads: “Because of charges related to the irregularities in the software used for certain diesel engines, we expect 2015 operating profit for both the group and the passenger cars business to be down significantly year-on-year.

“We expect an operating return on sales before special items of between 5.5 and 6.5% for the group's operating profit; this will amount to between six and seven per cent in the passenger cars business.”

Financial performance by brand - Jan 1 - Sept 30

	Sales revenue (€m)		Operating profit (€m)		Operating margin %
	2015	2014	2015	2014	2015	2014
Volkswagen Cars	79,972	73,390	2,229	1,696	2.8	2.3
Audi	43,695	39,300	4,024	3,831	9.2	9.7
Skoda	9,280	8,784	734	651	7.9	7.4
Seat	6,388	5,622	12	-82	0.2	-1.5
Bentley	1,364	1,259	57	125	4.2	9.9
Porsche*	16,471	12,241	2,546	1,927	15.5	15.7
VW Commercials	7,537	6,976	313	378	4.2	5.4
Scania*	7,686	7,511	748	700	9.7	9.3
MAN	9,981	10,214	271	304	2.7	3.0
Volkswagen Financial Services	19,403	16,058	1,381	1,215	7.1	7.6
* inc financial services