Germany’s Volkswagen on Tuesday reported a sharp drop in annual operating profit and flagged another tough year ahead as the auto giant continues to grapple with U.S. tariffs and competition in China.

Europe’s biggest carmaker posted 2025 operating profit of 8.9 billion euros ($10.4 billion), down 53% from the year prior, citing U.S. tariffs, currency effects and a strategic shift at Porsche. Analysts had expected annual operating profit to come in at 9.4 billion euros, according to LSEG consensus data.

Full-year revenue held steady at nearly 322 billion euros, compared to 324.7 billion euros in 2024, and the company’s outlook for sales growth is relatively modest in 2026. Volkswagen said it expects revenue to develop in a range between 0% to 3% this year, falling short of analyst expectations.

The company also said it anticipates an operating margin of between 4% and 5.5% in 2026, after coming in at 2.8% in 2025, down from 5.9% a year earlier.

Arno Antlitz, chief operating officer and chief financial officer at Volkswagen, described 2025 as a “really challenging” year but said the company remains “well positioned” in Europe.

“We increased our market share slightly despite increased Chinese competition. In electric vehicles, we even achieved a market share of more than 25%, 27%, so more than in the combustion engine segment,” Antlitz told CNBC’s Annette Weisbach on Tuesday.

Shares of Volkswagen rose 4% during early morning deals. The stock is down more than 12% year-to-date.

The results come as Europe’s automakers struggle to get to grips with a series of industry challenges, including robust competition from Chinese car brands and U.S. President Donald Trump’s import tariffs.

The automotive sector is widely regarded as acutely vulnerable to U.S. tariffs, particularly given the high globalization of supply chains and the heavy reliance on manufacturing operations across North America.

Asked about the sprawling Middle East crisis and the potential impact on the company given heightened oil price volatility, Volkswagen’s Antlitz said: “This crisis is obviously concerning for all our partners and customers in the region and their families.”

He added: “In terms of effect on our business, so far it is limited. In terms of oil or gas or energy, we have long-term contracts so we are basically hedged on that side and currently we also do not see major supply constraints.”

Equinox’s $40,000-a-year membership has a waiting list of more than 1,000 people, as demand for luxury health and wellness programs soars, according to the company’s chairman.

The high-end fitness chain’s “Optimize by Equinox,” launched in 2024, is one of the most expensive gym memberships in the world and includes everything from personal training and nutrition to sleep coaching, massage therapy and a “health concierge.”

Harvey Spevak, Equinox’s executive chairman, told Inside Wealth that the program has seen remarkable demand and highlights the “insatiable” demand by the wealthy for longevity and wellness products.

“Health is the new luxury,” Spevak said. “The No. 1 thing in the experience economy, besides travel, that the consumer wants, is, ‘How do I live a high-performance lifestyle?'”

The Optimize program is all part of Equinox’s strategy to become the leading luxury brand in the fast-growing business of health and wellness.

The global wellness market is expected to reach nearly $10 trillion by 2030, up from $6.8 trillion in 2024, according to estimates from the Global Wellness Institute. With the population of millionaires and billionaires aging, and an explosion in companies and products promising miracle cures, the wealthy are driving much of the spending.

Equinox has grown beyond fitness clubs to expand into hotels and hospitality, personalized performance programs, IV centers, blood-testing collaborations and more.

The company opened its first hotel, in Manhattan’s Hudson Yards neighborhood, in 2019 and is about to open a second, in Saudi Arabia. Spevak said Equinox will likely have close to a dozen hotels around the world — including in the Middle East, the Caribbean and the U.S. — within the next seven to eight years.

Equinox currently has 115 fitness clubs and has plans for 40 more — including locations in Nashville, Tennessee; Toronto; Charlotte, North Carolina; and South Florida. Despite being the largest retailer in New York by square feet, it’s continuing to add more in its home city, Spevak said.

The Optimize membership leverages Function Health, a lab test company, to provide clients with tests for 100 biomarkers twice a year, which could then serve as guides for a fitness, nutrition and lifestyle program tailored to each client.

Spevak said the program has rolled out in Los Angeles and Dallas and will eventually launch in New York.

The company also recently created a personalized program for women called EQX ARC. Using  diagnostics, wearables and specialized coaching, the program is designed around the different stages of a woman’s life and health journey, and already has its own waitlist.

Spevak said the company’s IV-drip lounge at the Equinox Hotel in Hudson Yards — its only drip lounge thus far — has already become “a seven-figure business.”

While Equinox is private and doesn’t disclose financials, Spevak said 2025 was a “record year” for the company and he expects 2026 “to be even bigger.” He said other high-end consumer companies are reaching out to Equinox to partner on health and wellness.

“When you think about the economy moving from a product economy to an experience economy, a lot of big consumer companies are saying, ‘Well, how do I continue to serve my consumer and health and wellness, and who do I talk to?’

“There’s truly only one brand that has the authority and the brand equity,” he said. 

A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high-net-worth investor and consumer. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.