Since entering March, many large listed companies have begun to announce their annual financial reports for 2021. Although the automotive supply chain has been greatly affected by the epidemic in 2021, and the output of each company has also declined considerably compared with 2019 before the epidemic, the profits of many car companies, especially luxury brands, have not declined because of sales, but there is still a lot of growth, and the profits of some luxury brand car companies have hit a new high in history.
Bentley Bentayga
As early as February, Ferrari, a well-known Italian sports car manufacturer, announced its 2021 full-year financial report, and the company's 2021 car deliveries increased by 22.3% year-on-year to 11,155 units, reaching an all-time high. At the same time, its sales increased by 23.4% year-on-year in 2021 to 4.27 billion euros, even compared with 2019 before the epidemic, it also increased by 13.4%, and its net profit was also 833 million euros. And Volkswagen's luxury brand Bentley's performance last year was even more "against the sky"! Bentley said that 2021 was the highest year on record, with total revenue of 2.845 billion euros (about 19.83 billion yuan), of which operating profit rose from 20 million euros in 2020 to 389 million euros (about 2.712 billion yuan) last year, an increase of 1845%. In addition, BMW, Audi and other car companies have also had excellent performance in the recently announced performance, so why in the case of the epidemic and supply chain shortage, many luxury car brands around the world have made historic breakthroughs in profits?
The general economic environment has improved
Although the world is still under the epidemic in 2021, thanks to the gradual popularization of vaccines, the economic data of major economies around the world has improved significantly compared with 2020 when the epidemic first broke out. According to earlier forecasts by the International Monetary Fund (International Monetary Fund), global GDP will increase from $84.7 trillion in 2020 to $94.94 trillion in 2021, a record high, with an average annual growth rate of more than $10 trillion.
From the perspective of the world's top three economies, the United States, as the world's largest economy, has a total GDP of $23 trillion in 2021, an increase of 5.7% year-on-year, the highest level since 1984. The mainland also achieved a total GDP of 114 trillion yuan in 2021, an increase of 8.1% year-on-year. The eu, the third-largest economy, also saw a 5.3 percent increase. Overall, the global economic environment is moving in a good direction. In addition, the demand accumulation caused by the outbreak of the epidemic in 2020 also broke out last year, so the demand for luxury cars last year has been greatly improved. The improvement of the economy has also allowed more people to have enough purchasing power, which has also laid the foundation for the hot sales of luxury cars
Consumers' own thinking has shifted
In addition to the impact on people's daily lives, the arrival of the epidemic has also changed the mentality of many people, especially the rich. For many people who were once reluctant to spend money, the epidemic has made them understand that the meaning of life is to "have fun in time", so the requirements for living standards are higher than before the epidemic. According to Rolls-Royce CEO Torsten Müller-tvs, the ferocious pandemic has made many wealthy consumers aware of the brevity of life, which has also boosted sales of "luxury goods" such as Rolls-Royce.
Rolls-Royce Phantom
On the other hand, the "big water release" behavior of central banks around the world in 2021 and the rise in the stock market and cryptocurrency market have also created a large number of young rich people, and they have become a large customer group of many luxury luxury car brands. In order to boost the economy, the United States in the past two years continue to print money, so that a large number of funds flowed into the U.S. stock market and virtual currency market often epidemic, the U.S. stock market has been soaring, while the high stock price has also created a number of rich people such as Musk, Bezos, etc., many of whom are young people, and in the eyes of these people who have become rich overnight because of the stock market or speculation, luxury cars, especially those luxury car brands, are a great weapon for them to show their personal strength. And the sudden wealth also makes them more willing to spend money than those who have accumulated wealth by hard work.
Automakers are paying more attention to the production of high-profit models
In addition to the change in the economic environment and consumer concepts, the adjustment of vehicle production strategies by automobile manufacturers is also an important reason why some top luxury car companies can make a lot of money last year. Last year, because there was still a shortage of car chips, global new car production was affected to a certain extent, but this did not have much impact on the top luxury car brands with high profits. On the one hand, manufacturers will provide more resources to their luxury brand owners, for example, Volkswagen has suspended the production of some low-cost models, and concentrated the available resources on the production of Porsche, Lamborghini, Bentley and other models, although its output in 2021 has declined, but profits have grown against the trend.
Bentley Speed Space Custom Edition
On the other hand, top luxury car brands have also made trade-offs in the choice of models, and have launched higher-priced customized and special models to replace ordinary models. According to Bentley's chief financial officer, Bentley's personalized customization solutions launched last year were welcomed by customers, and the launch of high-margin customized models including Speed and Mulliner also increased Bentley's bicycle profits a lot and helped Bentley achieve a 13.7% return on sales. For luxury brands such as BBA, they have invested more resources in the production of high-end models, which can also increase their bicycle profits.
Ferrari SF90 Stradale
In addition to the above points, the rise of new energy vehicles and the decline of fuel vehicles have also affected top luxury brands. As vehicle emission standards become more stringent, the life cycle of those top luxury cars that often have large displacements has begun to come to an end, and many top car brands, including Bentley, Aston Martin Lamborghini, etc., have announced that they will stop the production of high-emission fuel vehicles within this year and begin to transition to hybrid and pure electric. For those who prefer large-displacement sports cars, the move has been the last time to start in recent years.
Write at the end
For these top auto brands, the economic recovery, customer growth and shift in business ideas allow them to achieve rapid development and even historic breakthroughs in 2021, when the overall automotive industry has made little progress. Although this achievement under the influence of the epidemic is indeed worth celebrating, it should also be noted that in the current situation when new energy vehicles are gradually becoming popular and fuel vehicles may be eliminated in the future, how these top luxury brands with high-horsepower internal combustion engines as a major selling point can achieve their own transformation and face the competition of other enterprises in the industry is still a real problem they need to consider.