A few days ago, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, audi have released the 2021 annual financial report. These three are important car brands in the Chinese luxury car market and the global luxury car market, and they are also old rivals who have loved and killed each other for many years. After entering the era of electrification, the three companies have also started the transformation of electrification and digitalization in almost all of them in a similar time.
Therefore, in 2021, when the epidemic is repeated, the core is missing and the electricity is missing, and the raw materials are rising, the financial reports handed over by the BBA in transition are particularly interesting.
First part of the core data:
Source: Sohu Auto
(Note: Mercedes-Benz Group includes the commercial vehicle business and BMW Group contains the motorcycle business, so the automotive business revenue and gross profit margin are listed separately.) Gross margin change was year-on-year )
Overall, in a less favorable environment, the BBA has handed over a financial report that each is relatively satisfied with. Especially BMW, several core data are all positive, which can be said to be particularly eye-catching.
BMW sold more than Mercedes-Benz, the only positive year-on-year growth
According to the data, in the 2021 fiscal year, the BMW Group delivered a total of 2.52 million new cars worldwide, an increase of 8.4% year-on-year, surpassing Mercedes-Benz with an advantage of nearly 200,000 units, ranking first among the global luxury brands, and the only one of the three BBA companies to increase sales year-on-year. This is also the first time in the past five years that Mercedes-Benz has been surpassed by BMW in terms of sales.
Interestingly, about half of the nearly 200,000-vehicle sales gap comes from the Chinese market. In the Chinese market, BMW's annual sales of the 3 Series, 5 Series and X3 all exceeded 150,000 units respectively, beating Mercedes-Benz's competitors.
In terms of new energy, which is particularly valued by the BBA, BMW, which started electrification earlier, has also tasted sweetness. In 2021, BMW will deliver 328,300 electrified models, accounting for 13% of the group's total sales, the highest proportion of new energy models in the BBA. Among them, 103,000 pure electric models were sold, accounting for 4.08%. Mercedes-Benz sold 227,500 electrified models worldwide, accounting for 9.76% of the Group's sales, of which 48,900 pure electric models of the EQ series were sold, accounting for 2.1%.
The same is true for the Chinese market. After experiencing the initial cold in the market, BMW's new energy vehicles finally ushered in a big growth in 2021, with annual sales of more than 48,000 units, an increase of 69.6% year-on-year, of which the main model iX3 sold more than 21,000 units in 2021. In contrast, although Mercedes-Benz has launched EQS, EQA and EQB in 2021, sales have not improved.
Under the strong sales performance, BMW's revenue increased by 12.4% year-on-year to 111.239 billion euros, of which the automotive business revenue increased significantly by 18.1% to 95.476 billion, which also led the growth rate of Mercedes-Benz Audi. In particular, the gross profit margin of the automotive business can be significantly ahead of Mercedes-Benz Audi, which also proves the competitiveness of BMW's system.
The most profitable is still Mercedes-Benz, and the ability to earn gold is unmatched
Although BMW is leading in sales, in terms of "gold mining" ability, it still belongs to Mercedes-Benz.
Even as Mercedes-Benz's sales continued to decline in 2021, revenue from the passenger car business increased by 11.23% year-on-year to 109.648 billion euros, and net profit increased by 255% year-on-year to 14.18 billion euros, leading the BBA. At the same time, Mercedes-Benz's cash flow is also the highest among the three, and it is really rich.
The growth of revenue and profit is first of all due to cost reduction and efficiency. Since 2019, fixed costs in the Mercedes-Benz passenger car segment have been reduced by 16%. It can be seen from the product sales structure of Mercedes-Benz that the high-end car series with higher profits has made outstanding contributions to sales growth. In 2021, mercedes-benz high-end car sales increased by 30%, and the average price of bicycles reached 49,800 euros (about 354,000 yuan).
Specifically, Mercedes-Benz S-Class sales in 2021 were 87,064 units, up 40% year-on-year, of which sales in the Chinese market accounted for 35.5%, more than 30,000 units; G-Class global sales of 41,174 units; AMG model deliveries reached 145979 units, up 16.7% year-on-year; Maybach sales rose 50.7% year-on-year to 15,730 units.
From the Chinese market, we can also see that the discount of Mercedes-Benz in the BBA is relatively small. If the other two are price-for-volume to win sales, then Mercedes-Benz is relying on brand premiums to earn real money.
Audi is most dependent on the Chinese market, and its net profit has reached a new high
Although from the perspective of global sales, Audi is far from BMW and Mercedes-Benz. However, from the perspective of sales in China, the gap between Audi and Mercedes-Benz is only about 30,000 vehicles. Moreover, Audi's sales in China account for nearly 50% of global sales, and BMW Mercedes-Benz's sales in China are only about one-third of global sales. This is enough to show that Audi is the most dependent on the Chinese market.
As the earliest layout of China's luxury car market, Audi's sales once led the luxury car market. However, with the increase in domestic models of BMW and Mercedes-Benz and the downward price threshold, Audi has been squeezed into the third place.
Of course, compared with itself, Audi's data is still eye-catching, and revenue, net profit, and cash flow have increased significantly year-on-year. Net profit of €5,498 million and net cash flow of €7,757 million both hit record highs.
At the same time, Audi's financial report data also shows that in 2021, Audi produced 169,000 electrified models, of which 81,894 pure electric models were delivered, an increase of 57.5% year-on-year. The proportion of pure electric models in electrified models, Audi is ahead of BMW Mercedes-Benz.
From the current situation, Audi wants to continue to break through the Chinese market, which depends largely on whether SAIC Audi can create new market growth points. At the same time, continue to compete for opportunities in the pure electric market. Compared with BMW Mercedes-Benz, which has invested heavily in research and development, Audi also has to consider spending money on the cutting edge.
Write at the end:
In 2021, although affected by the new crown epidemic and the shortage of spare parts, the entire automotive industry is facing multiple difficulties to a certain extent. However, for BBA, these old luxury brands, with excellent brand power, product matrix and stable supply system, they can still maintain a lot of profits and take the lead in getting out of the predicament. The electrification transformation of BBA, in the early context of not being optimistic, can also rely on rich financial income support, with time in exchange for turnaround. This is probably where the BBA's aggressive strategy lies.
In 2022, it is expected that the revenue status of the three companies will continue to grow, especially in the Chinese market. Bmw, this year's group financial report will be included in BMW Brilliance's data; Mercedes-Benz, the increase in the stake in Beijing Benz will bring more profits; Audi depends on the growth of SAIC Audi. (Text/UVIS Auto Old Cannon)
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