The Volkswagen Group has delivered revenue and profit growth in H1 2019 with strong results for Porsche, its new SUV models and Bentley’s return to profit all boosting its performance.

Despite a 5.4% like-for-like decline in deliveries during the period to June 30, 2019, the German carmaker recorded a 4.9% rise in sales revenues, to €125.2 billion (£111.6bn) and a 1.9% rise in operating profit before special items to €10 billion (£8.9bn).

In a results statement issued today (July 25) - just a day after PSA reported postive results and in the wake of negative outlooks from Aston Martin, Nissan and Daimler - the VW Group said: “Improvements in the mix and price positioning as well as lower special items compared with the previous year were more than sufficient to compensate for higher fixed costs, negative currency trends and lower vehicle sales.”

Porsche emerged as one of the star performers from a group portfolio, which also features Audi, Bentley, Cupra, Seat, Skoda and Volkswagen, with a 2.5% rise in profits to €2.1 billion (£1.87bn) as sales revenues rose 8.9%, from €11.2 billion (£9.98bn) to €12.2 billion (£10.88bn).

The Volkswagen passenger car brand saw profits rise 9.5%, from €2.1 (£1.87bn) to €2.3 billion (£2.05bn).

Skoda, which recently launched its iV electric vehicle (EV) brand, recorded 10.8% year-on-year rise in sales revenues to €10.2 billion (£9.1bn) delivered a €3 million (£2.67bn) rise in operating profit to €824 million (£734.6m).

Seat’s sales revenues were up 8.3% at €6.3 billion (£5.62bn), meanwhile as operating profit rose by 1.9% to €216 million (£192.6m).

The Bentley brand boosted its sales revenues to €835 million (£744.4m), with operating profit recovering from an €80 million (£71.32m) loss in the same period last year to €57 million (£50.82m) this time around.

Commenting on Bentley’s performance, the group said: “In addition to volume, cost savings in connection with the ongoing efficiency program as well as mix effects and exchange rate trends had a positive impact.”

The strong performance of Porsche, VW, Bentley, Skoda and Seat were enough to offset a decline in profits for Audi.

The premium brand delivered a fall €2.8 billion (£2.5bn) operating profits in H1 2018 to €2.3 billion (£2.05bn) this year.

The Group said that Audi had suffered from the negative effects of “model ramp-ups and phase-outs” along with “WLTP-related lower sales volumes, higher upfront expenditure for new products and technologies, cost increases and exchange rate effects”.

VW now expects revenues for the 2019 full-year to rise by up to 5%, however.

Detailing its projected outlook for the remainder of 2019, the group said that it “continues to expect that deliveries to Volkswagen Group customers in 2019 will be slightly higher than in 2018 despite market conditions that remain challenging”.

It added: “The main challenges relate to the uncertain economic environment, the growing intensity of competition, volatile exchange rate trends and the more stringent registration requirements.”