By the end of February 2022, many car companies have announced their 2021 financial reports. According to the data released by the Association of Passenger Vehicles, the cumulative sales of domestic passenger cars in 2021 exceeded 20 million units, an increase of 4.4% year-on-year, and the annual sales of six car companies exceeded one million units. The steady growth is good news for the automotive industry.
Although the shortage of chips is still a common problem faced by major car companies, it can be seen from the sales data and financial reports released by car companies that many car companies still achieved profitability last year. According to the 2021 annual financial reports released by some car companies, Many car companies such as Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, and Ford seem to have shown their bottom cards. So, who has made a lot of money in the past year, and who will live with their belts tightened this year?
Mercedes-Benz Group
At the beginning of February this year, Daimler AG changed its name to Mercedes-Benz Group AG, and the previous Daimler Trucks & Buses business segment went public in mid-December last year after independence. Therefore, the financial report announced by Mercedes-Benz is divided into businesses that continue to operate and businesses that terminate operations.
According to the official financial report data, Mercedes-Benz's turnover for the whole of last year was 168 billion euros, an increase of 9% year-on-year, and the net profit was 23.4 billion euros, a significant increase from 4 billion euros in 2020, of which the net profit from continuous operations was 11.1 billion euros, and the profit margin of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles increased from 6.9% in 2020 to 12.7%.
The increase in Mercedes-Benz's net profit is directly related to the adjustment of the product matrix. In terms of sales, Mercedes-Benz's passenger cars and light commercial vehicles sold a total of 2.3302 million units last year, down 5% year-on-year, which is related to the impact of chip shortages. Even though overall sales have declined, sales of high-end models have increased, thereby boosting the brand's overall profits. It is reported that high-end models such as Maybach, AMG, EQ series, mercedes-Benz S-Class and so on increased by 30% in annual sales last year, of which the delivery of electric models increased by 64% last year.
According to the plan, Mercedes-Benz will focus on the electric vehicle market this year, launching a series of new pure electric products, including the new Mercedes-Benz EQE and the new Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV, Mercedes-Benz VISION EQXX and so on. This year is the last year to implement the new energy subsidy policy, the domestic electric vehicle market or usher in unprecedented development, and Mercedes-Benz's investment is expected to help the brand expand its influence.
Ideal car
The 2021 financial report data released by Ideal Auto shows that in 2021, Ideal Auto's total revenue was 27.01 billion yuan, an increase of 185.6% year-on-year, and the cumulative delivery of 90,491 new cars, both of which set new records, are expected to deliver 30,000-32,000 new cars in the first quarter of this year. In terms of net profit, Ideal Auto made a net loss of 321.5 million yuan last year, more than 151.7 million yuan in 2020.
It is not difficult to see that the revenue of the ideal car is increasing, but the loss is also gradually increasing. Looking closely at the financial report, Ideal Automobile was only profitable in the fourth quarter last year, while the net profit was as high as 295.5 million yuan, an increase of 174.88% year-on-year. Looking back at the financial reports of Ideal Automobile in previous years, there was also a profit in the fourth quarter and a loss in the first three quarters. This is related to the increase in research and development costs.
Ideal Car currently has only one ideal ONE model, and the brand's audience is always inferior to other car companies. In order to expand the product line, Ideal Auto can only increase R&D investment, and last year's R&D expenditure alone was as high as 3.29 billion yuan, which is not an order of magnitude compared with 1.1 billion yuan in 2020. It is reported that Ideal Auto will launch a new full-size SUV in the second quarter, releasing at least two high-voltage pure electric models per year from 2023 onwards.
Volvo Cars
As a second-tier luxury brand, Volvo's brand influence is not as good as the BBA, but it earns no less than them. According to the financial report data, Volvo Cars' revenue increased from 262.8 billion Swedish browns in 2020 to 282 billion Swedish browns, and operating profit increased from 8.5 billion Swedish browns in 2020 to 20.3 billion Swedish browns, with a profit margin of 7.2% and a net profit of 14.2 billion Swedish browns, an increase of 82% year-on-year.
The whole data is indeed very brilliant, but Reindeer noted that Volvo's revenue and profit in the fourth quarter of last year have declined, which the official explanation says is related to the continuous shortage of parts supply in the automotive industry, especially the shortage of chips.
In terms of sales, Volvo sold a total of 698,700 vehicles last year, an increase of 5.6% year-on-year, and in the field of pure electric vehicles that Volvo has just been exposed to, the RECHARGE series also sold 189,200 vehicles last year, accounting for 27% of total sales. Volvo may see the brand's potential in the pure electric vehicle market, planning to increase the annual production capacity of pure electric vehicles to 150,000 units this summer, and expects pure electric vehicle sales to more than double last year.
However, what Ruby brother had to pour cold water on was that although Volvo had improved in the field of new energy, most of its sales came from plug-in mixed vehicles, pure electric vehicles accounted for only 6% of total sales, and there was nothing wrong with increasing production capacity, but finding ways to promote the sales of pure electric vehicles was the key.
Ford Cars
According to the data, Ford's operating income in fiscal 2021 was 136.341 billion yuan, an increase of 7.32% year-on-year, and adjusted EBITDA was $10 billion, achieving both revenue and net profit growth. Specific to the segment, Ford's revenue source is the North American market, achieving $87.8 billion in revenue, thanks to Ford's tilt toward models such as more profitable pickup trucks and SUVs, and electric pickup truck company Rivian has achieved good revenue. The European market was affected by the shortage of semiconductor supply and suffered a loss in net profit.
In the Chinese market, Ford sold 649,000 units and generated revenue of $2.5 billion, down 20% year-on-year. However, in the eyes of Brother Rudder, Ford has the opportunity to turn a profit this year. You know, the Ford Mustang Mach-E only started delivering last year, and this year is expected to usher in a new sales uphill. In addition, the sales volume of the Lincoln brand in the domestic market has surpassed the US market, which shows that Lincoln's localization is a very important decision for Ford.
In recent years, Ford has continuously launched models for the Chinese market, the first model of the localization strategy, Ford EVOS, has begun to be delivered, and the new Lincoln Z and the new generation of Mondeo will be launched this year.
It is worth noting that according to foreign media reports, Ford Motor will accelerate the transformation of the electric vehicle business, in the next five to ten years, for the electric vehicle field, Ford will add 10-20 billion US dollars on the basis of the original 30 billion US dollars, and the factory originally used to transform some fuel vehicles will also be converted to the production of electric vehicles.
According to the custom, more car companies will release the financial report data of previous years in March, and there will be more good news. For consumers, the financial reports of car companies can reflect the sales volume of car companies, which has certain reference significance for choosing which brand.