By Miranda Murray and Nick Carey
BERLIN (Reuters) -Volkswagen expects a 3% rise in its car sales this year, down sharply from 2023 amid a gloomy economic outlook and growing competition.
Presenting the German automaker's 2023 results, finance chief Arno Antlitz said the "general economic situation remains challenging," but added "we are confident about 2024, despite the muted economic outlook and intense competition".
Volkswagen's deliveries to customers rose 12% to 9.24 million vehicles in 2023.
The company said on Wednesday it expected a boost to vehicle orders in Western Europe in the coming months from new models including fully electric cars.
Volkswagen, which recently launched the electric ID.7 and plans a record 30 more new models during 2024, said it had "started the new year with a clearly positive trend" compared with the start of last year.
Its shares were down 0.6% to 120.16 euros at 0920 GMT, within a flat German market.
Volkswagen this month announced a muted outlook for 2024 and a higher dividend.
"To ensure that we remain successful sustainably, we will focus in 2024 on ramping up new vehicles, reducing costs," it said in a statement, adding the company would focus on profitable growth in North America.
Volkswagen has already announced plans to cut administrative staff costs at its VW brand by a fifth, adding this would be through partial and early retirement rather than layoffs.
The operating profit margin for the group's core mass-market brands rose to 5.3% last year from 3.6% in 2022, with the company targeting 8%.
($1 = 0.9153 euros)
(Reporting by Christina AmannWriting by Miranda MurrayEditing by David Goodman and Mark Potter)
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