Volkswagen Shares Slip 2.5% as Braunschweig Custody Ruling Adds to Market-Wide Selloff

Volkswagen's preference shares closed Friday at €69.84, down 2.5%, as a detention order in the long-running diesel fraud trial landed on top of a broad retreat in equity markets. A court in Braunschweig ordered one of the three defendants — a former VW manager — into custody following the second day of proceedings, according to the Tagesschau. The man has lodged an appeal against the decision. dpa-AFX identified news of the detention as the specific trigger for the day's selling pressure.

The wider backdrop was hardly supportive. Worries over AI and semiconductor stocks set off a global wave of selling, with Reuters reporting a worldwide selloff and mounting uncertainty over AI-related equities that weighed on European markets too. The DAX dropped nearly 2% after the opening bell. Against that, Bernstein Research had reinitiated coverage of Volkswagen only on Thursday with a "Market-Perform" rating and an €80 price target — a day before the stock's latest slide. Analyst Harry Martin pointed to the extensive restructuring under way and significant investment in products and local manufacturing. The "Market-Perform" label means Bernstein does not class the shares as a buy.

Margin Pressure in the Core Brand Group

The rating landed alongside figures that underline the scale of the turnaround task. On 30 October, Volkswagen reported a decline in operating profit for the Brand Group Core: €4.33 billion in the first nine months of 2026, down from €4.72 billion a year earlier. The brand group's operating return on sales slipped to 4.1% from 4.4%, and for the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand alone the margin stood at just 1.3%. The company also said it was temporarily suspending development work on the future ID. Golf.

Deutsche Bank Research, for its part, cut its price target to €100 from €105 on 2 November while reaffirming its buy recommendation. The move followed talks with finance chief Arno Antlitz covering restructuring, cost reductions in Germany and the strained situation in China.

Elli Exits Charging Hardware

Cost discipline extends beyond the core brand. On Tuesday, word emerged of a realignment at Volkswagen subsidiary Elli, which according to media reports is pulling out of charging hardware — including wallboxes and charging infrastructure for corporate customers. The overhaul affects roughly 400 employees; Elli did not disclose how many jobs might be lost.

Labour costs are the other front. Volkswagen and IG Metall have set the start of wage negotiations for 24 November 2026 in Emden, with the company naming the reduction of labour costs as its goal. Talks are also due to cover possible additional personnel measures, including transfer companies. The next round is scheduled for 15 December 2026 in Zwickau.

Turkey Talks and an Automated Emden

Elsewhere in the group, Volkswagen and Do?u? Otomotiv signed a letter of intent on 30 October to examine options for producing Volkswagen passenger cars in Turkey. And on 28 October, the company marked the completion of a logistics project at the port of Emden, where it had spent more than two years testing automated vehicle movements together with Deutsche Telekom, Unikie and BIBA.