Volkswagen’s electric-vehicle business is humming along in its home market, yet the stock remains mired near 52-week lows — a paradox that captures the divergent forces pulling at Europe’s largest carmaker. While a surge in German EV registrations provided a tailwind late last week, the company’s shares have lost nearly 30 percent of their value since January and continue to trade well below key technical levels.
The disconnect is sharp. Germany registered more than 368,000 new battery-electric cars in the first half of the year, a 48 percent jump from the same period in 2025, with EVs capturing a record 28.4 percent of the market in June alone. The rebound has been turbocharged by a revamped state subsidy programme that went digital in May, making it easier for buyers to claim the bonus. Volkswagen’s ID family, a direct beneficiary, has seen demand spike.
Yet at the bourse, the mood is far less buoyant. The preferred shares closed Friday at 75.00 euros, according to one data feed, while a separate calculation put the figure at 74.96 euros — either way a far cry from the December 2025 high of 109.10 euros. The stock tumbled to a new 52-week trough of 69.20 euros on 1 July, and the 30-day performance shows a 16 percent decline. Over the first half, the loss stands at 29.35 percent, leaving the shares more than 30 percent below their annual peak.
Technical indicators are flashing mixed signals. The relative strength index (RSI) hovered between 35.6 and 35.8, depending on the source, edging into oversold territory. The 50-day moving average sits at 85.44 euros — well above the current price — and the 30-day annualised volatility has hit 31.65 percent, suggesting no respite from sharp swings.
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Against this backdrop, Volkswagen is taking the unusual step of raising prices for its petrol and diesel models while leaving EVs untouched. From 2 July 2026, combustion-engine vehicles cost between 1.0 and 1.2 percent more. The move is a direct response to the coming Euro-7 emissions standard, codified in EU regulation 2024/1257, which takes effect for new vehicle types on 29 November 2026 and a year later for all new registrations. By passing on part of the anticipated engineering and compliance costs, the group hopes to protect margins on its legacy fleet without deterring EV buyers.
The pricing decision dovetails with a broader cost-cutting drive. At the virtual annual general meeting on 18 June, CEO Oliver Blume defended plans to slash 50,000 jobs by 2030, 28,000 of them through voluntary exits, as part of a push to lift the operating margin to between 8 and 10 percent by the end of the decade. Shareholders did receive a dividend of 5.26 euros per preferred share for 2025 — a payout ratio above 30 percent — but the stock has been trading ex-dividend since 19 June, offering little cushion against the broader slide.
For now, the strong home-market EV registrations provide a welcome buffer, but structural vulnerabilities remain. In China and the United States, demand for electric vehicles continues to lag, leaving Volkswagen heavily dependent on the German market at a time when global competition is intensifying. The company is betting that keeping ID models affordable while nudging up combustion-engine prices will ease the transition, but the stock’s persistent weakness suggests investors are not yet convinced.
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