BERLIN, Oct 30 (Reuters) - German carmaker Volkswagen expects operating profit in the second half of the year to be roughly on a par with earnings in the first six months, Chief Financial Officer Hans Dieter Poetsch said.
There is a "certain probability" that second-half underlying earnings will be similar to first-half operating profit, which rose 7 percent to 6.19 billion euros, Poetsch said on a conference call on Thursday.
Passenger-car order books at Wolfsburg-based VW are in "pretty decent" shape, sales chief Christian Klingler said on the call, without being more specific.
Fourth-quarter free cash flow will be hit by major capital spending, Poetsch said.
Truckmaker MAN needs urgent progress in cutting costs, Poetsch said, after third-quarter profit slumped by about half, forcing the company to scale back its earnings forecast.
"We need to continue to work heavily on the cost side," he added. (Reporting by Andreas Cremer; Editing by Arno Schuetze)