Over the past year, the Volkswagen Group, including brands such as Volkswagen, Porsche, Audi and Skoda, delivered a total of 8.882 million vehicles worldwide, down 4.5% year-on-year.
However, despite the decline in sales, the Volkswagen Group's operating profit in 2021 has doubled.
On March 12, the 2021 financial results released by the Volkswagen Group showed that Volkswagen's sales revenue in 2021 reached 250.2 billion euros, an increase of 12.3% year-on-year; in 2021, the operating profit reached 19.275 billion euros, an increase of 99.2% year-on-year, and the operating profit margin increased from 4.3% in 2020 to 7.7%.
At the same time, the Group's pre-tax profit reached 20.1 billion euros, an increase of 72.5% year-on-year, and the pre-tax profit margin was 8.0%, and the after-tax profit reached 15.4 billion euros, an increase of 74.8% year-on-year.
Volkswagen said the doubling of operating profit was due to higher product pricing and a better product mix.
Among Volkswagen's core brands, Audi's total deliveries in 2021 were 1.6805 million units, down 0.7% year-on-year, but behind BMW and Mercedes-Benz sales; Skoda's total global sales in 2021 were 878,200 units, down 12.6% year-on-year. Porsche, on the other hand, set a new delivery record, selling more than 300,000 units, with a sales growth rate of 10.9%, while Seat sold a total of 470,500 units, an increase of 10.3% year-on-year.
In addition, the growth was achieved by the supercar division, which consists of Lamborghini, Bentley and Bugatti, which delivered 23,100 new vehicles last year, an increase of 23.6% year-on-year.
At present, Volkswagen's bicycle turnover is not yet known, but from the sales volume of volkswagen group brands, most of the increases are high-end models. This means that despite the overall decline in sales, the average price of bicycles may have increased.
This is actually reflected in the earnings reports of Mercedes-Benz and BMW.
In terms of Mercedes-Benz, which has released specific performance reports, in 2021, affected by the shortage of chip supply, the total sales of Mercedes-Benz passenger cars and light commercial vehicles were 2.33 million units, down 5% year-on-year, of which the sales volume of the passenger car segment fell 5% year-on-year to 2.055 million units.
Despite this, Mercedes-Benz's net profit in 2021 still achieved a substantial increase. Its full-year turnover was EUR 168 billion, up 9% year-on-year, the Group's net profit was EUR 23.4 billion, up 485% year-on-year, and the related businesses, including the passenger car segment, excluding Daimler Trucks, were 255% year-on-year.
In terms of sales profit, mercedes-Benz passenger cars and light commercial vehicles adjusted sales margin rose to 12.7% from 6.9% in 2020. In terms of bicycle turnover, Mercedes-Benz passenger cars increased their bicycle turnover by 26% last year, with an average price of 49,800 euros (about 322,400 yuan) per Mercedes-Benz car.
The reason for its profitability is inseparable from the development of high-end models. At the beginning of 2021, Daimler Group proposed to give chips to high-end models such as Mercedes-Benz S-Class for higher profits.
It is worth noting that during the same period, Volkswagen Group also said that Due to insufficient supply of chips, Volkswagen's production capacity was constrained. In order to deal with the chip problem, Volkswagen chose to give priority to the chip to Porsche models and Volkswagen's new pure electric SUV models.
By analogy, Volkswagen's logic of doubling profits in the face of declining sales may be the same as mercedes-Benz. However, the public is still conservative about expectations for 2022.
According to Reuters, Volkswagen Group believes that the impact of the current situation in Russia and Ukraine on supply chains and raw materials may affect the business of Volkswagen Group this year.
Taking into account issues such as insufficient supply caused by chip shortages, the Volkswagen Group expects sales revenue to grow 8% to 13% year-on-year this year, adjusted operating margins to grow by 7% to 8.5%, and new car deliveries to increase by 5% to 10%.
The epidemic and the problem of "lack of core" have indeed become a "common disease" faced by the automotive market in the past two years. But for the public, dealing with the external environment is on the one hand, and how to get through the "pain period" of internal transformation is on the other hand, and it is a more difficult and important part.