Text | Qin Fanghui
Design | microcosm
Producer | Chen Zixuan
Over the past year, things have been going on.
Crises such as repeated epidemics, chip shortages, and rising raw material prices have ensued, making the global auto industry internal and external difficulties, and 2021 has quietly passed away, but everything has not become better as everyone expected.
Dealing with change, counter-thinking, and the giant turn around is not easy.
Over the past year, the Volkswagen Group has been a constant topic of conversation and frequently in the news.
Under the pressure of weak production and sales caused by transformation and "lack of cores", in the face of various doubts and concerns from the outside world, Volkswagen has finally made an optimistic and firm response recently.
On March 15, 2022, the Volkswagen Group officially announced its annual financial results.
Despite the severe impact of the chip shortage, the Group's overall sales last year decreased by about 600,000 units from FY2020, down 6% year-on-year and 2.4 million units from FY2019, but sales revenue increased by 12% year-on-year to EUR 250.2 billion.
In the face of adverse thinking, the strain is general.
The difficulties are certain, but volkswagen has proven to work in a focused and consistent manner, with its global layout, localization strategy, and optimized product portfolio, not only successfully maintaining profits in the face of adversity, but also laying a solid foundation for business progress in 2022.
When I was studying in business school, a professor explained the meaning of "crisis" in marketing management for us.
The popularity of the term "crisis" sometimes characterizes some social development trends, and the strategic development of enterprises even gives way to emergency and crisis management. Managers' ability to respond to crises is as important as their ability to generate wealth.
Over the past two years, the Volkswagen Group has responded quickly, learning how to better respond to and mitigate the negative distress caused by the crisis to the company.
Affected by the global chip supply shortage, the Volkswagen Group sold 8.6 million vehicles in fiscal 2021, down 6.3% year-on-year. However, the Group continued to accelerate its electrification offensive, delivering a total of 452,900 pure electric vehicles worldwide, nearly doubling the number.
Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess
At the press conference, Herbert Diess, CEO of volkswagen group, said: "The Volkswagen Group has proven itself to be resilient over the past few years and will work hard to deal with this crisis. At the same time, we will continue to focus on the implementation of the NEW AUTO strategy towards a future of zero emissions and autonomous driving. ”
As early as last July, the Volkswagen Group released the 2030 NEW AUTO strategy and announced the accelerated transformation into a software-driven mobility service provider, which is a fundamental strategy related to Volkswagen's transformation and development.
In less than a year, the Volkswagen Group has achieved significant results in the four strategic areas of mechatronic platforms, autonomous driving, batteries and charging, and mobility platforms, steadily creating new profit sources in the future.
Mr. Arno Antlitz, Chief Financial Officer of the Volkswagen Group, said: "In 2021, we will enhance the robustness of the Group's overall business by achieving higher profit margins, reducing indirect costs and break-even points, and adhering to capital expenditure discipline. We have achieved strong performance and stable cash flow. ”
By selling models with higher levels of configuration, Volkswagen has improved the quality of profitability. Through the planned distribution of chips, it was able to ensure a profit margin increase in the face of declining sales.
In terms of electrification, the Volkswagen Group is the European market leader in pure electric vehicles, accounting for about 25% of the market; ranked second in the US market with a market share of about 7.5%; and delivered a total of 92,700 pure electric vehicles in China, more than four times the delivery volume in fiscal 2020.
Looking ahead to fiscal 2022, the market environment will remain challenging, and if the COVID-19 pandemic does not break out on a large scale and the gap between intermediate products and commodities is alleviated, volkswagen Group expects vehicle deliveries to grow by 5% to 10% year-on-year in 2022.
In the short term, the Group will continue to be affected by the structural shortage of chips, which is expected to improve in the second half of 2022 compared to the first half of the year.
The Volkswagen Group expects sales revenue to increase by 8% to 13% year-on-year in 2022.
It is worth noting that the actual performance of the Group's business will depend on how the situation in Ukraine develops further, in particular its impact on the global economy and the Group's supply chain. The future development of the event and its related impact is still highly unpredictable.
In March 2021, the Volkswagen brand unveiled its ACCELERATE strategy, accelerating its transformation into a technology company. This year marks the first anniversary of the ACCELERATOR strategy, and the Volkswagen brand says that its plans to transform into a technology company have made good progress.
"2021 is an extraordinary year. In an extremely difficult business environment, we have continued to improve efficiency while maintaining the established route in terms of operations. Compared to last year, our profitability, resilience and efficiency have improved significantly. Volkswagen Passenger Car Brand CEO Bered said.
Volkswagen Passenger Car Brand CEO Berryed
Volkswagen's ties with China have grown stronger in the past 40 years. In the field of traditional fuel vehicles, Volkswagen has accompanied Chinese consumers through a glorious journey, and has also been recognized by the market and consumers.
However, in the domestic new energy market, although Volkswagen's growth momentum is good, in the face of the new car-making forces represented by Wei Xiaoli, the achievements of the Volkswagen ID. family are far from eye-catching.
In 2021, Volkswagen sold more than 119,000 new energy vehicles in the Chinese market, an increase of 128% year-on-year, of which about 70,000 ID. series models were delivered.
Feng Sihan, CEO of Volkswagen Group China
Feng Sihan, CEO of Volkswagen Group (China), said that in 2021, Volkswagen will only have a shortage of supply in the Chinese market, and there is no shortage of demand. In March last year, volkswagen ID.4 was launched, and monthly sales nearly doubled until September last year compared with the previous month.
However, in the fourth quarter of last year, ID.4 was affected by chip shortages, and some factories were affected by the epidemic, so sales did not meet expectations.
Product recognition is good, or supply side shortage. According to the plan, Volkswagen's new energy vehicles in China this year to achieve double sales, how to completely knock on the door of the Chinese market, will become its next most important issue.
In fact, relying on Volkswagen's natural brand foundation, strong R & D strength, and reliable product strength, as well as its own channels, user base and other advantages, Volkswagen ID. series has obtained good market traffic in China.
On the one hand, Volkswagen found that the development trend of New Energy Vehicles in China will be closely related to "smart cars", and consumers are becoming more and more demanding on products in this field.
To this end, the Volkswagen brand will provide OTA remote upgrades for users of ID. family models in the Chinese market to continuously improve the user experience. At the same time, Volkswagen also has a clear plan for autonomous driving, and more L2+ level autonomous driving assist functions will be fully mass-produced in the next two years.
On the other hand, Volkswagen will fundamentally strengthen its R&D capabilities and regard Volkswagen (Anhui) as an important driving force for R&D innovation, while CARIAD China will also provide strong support for localization software research and development.
In addition, in order to fully tap the market potential of new energy vehicles, volkswagen brands will continue to implement the ID.family model agency sales model and continue to maintain direct contact with users.
The past year has been remarkable.
The many corporate achievements that have been harvested in 2021 have effectively hit back at the public opinion of the outside world, and also proved the correctness of volkswagen's electrification transformation direction from the side.
Strong regional market performance, successful electrification offensive, solid financial revenue, and a fruitful NEW AUTO strategy together generate a strong impetus for Volkswagen's future profit growth and provide strong support for becoming a leader in the global pure electric vehicle market.
In the future, it may still be full of thorns.
Some people sink in adversity and stagnate; some people cling to moving forward in the darkness, moving steadily and far.
Practicing internal skills is perhaps the most effective and unchanging method for dealing with ever-changing times.
This is an enterprise that deserves our long-term learning and attention, as an outstanding representative of a long-termist, Volkswagen interprets for us not only the success and excellence of the era of commodity and business logic, but also the path of change committed to the future, based on the practitioners of the low-carbon economy in the era of mobile Internet.