Although the epidemic in 2021 is still repeated, and car manufacturers are plagued by lack of cores, from the year-end financial report, the epidemic and supply chain do not seem to have affected the car factories to make money. Not only are the sales revenue of domestic car manufacturers hitting new highs, but from a global perspective, the top 10 car companies in net profit in 2021 have also exceeded the pre-epidemic level.
Tesla squeezed into the top ten of net profit
Tesla is the only new energy vehicle company listed in the TOP10. Two years ago, Tesla's annual loss was equivalent to about 5.506 billion yuan, but Tesla has turned a profit in 2020, when the epidemic broke out. Tesla continues to usher in explosive growth in 2021. Global sales of 936,000 vehicles, net profit equivalent to 35.227 billion yuan, the gross profit margin of the automobile business is more than 30% in Q4 2021, leading the industry, which is a strong response to all voices questioning the profitability of electric vehicles, and also consolidates its leading position in the field of electric vehicles.
Tesla's profitability is not only due to the growth of its global sales, but also the biggest reason is the ultra-high production efficiency and lower production costs of its gigafactory. Inside the Gigafactory, it takes ten hours to complete a Tesla car, and the car moves every 45 seconds on the assembly line, which is three times the efficiency of Volkswagen. Tesla's integrated die-casting process not only reduces the total weight of the car body by 30%, but also reduces manufacturing costs by 40%. At present, traditional car companies such as Volkswagen have also begun to learn Tesla's production model and process.
Mercedes-Benz surpassed Toyota to become the most profitable car company
In our impression, luxury brands should be the most profitable. But the auto industry is about the scale effect, in the past few years, the top net profit is Toyota, Volkswagen, the most popular car brands in the world. Although Mercedes-Benz passenger car sales in 2021 fell by 5% year-on-year to 2.09 million units, Mercedes-Benz Group still surpassed Toyota in net profit and became the world's most profitable car company, with net profit increasing by 765% compared with 2019.
The reason for the top of Mercedes-Benz's net profit comes from two points: First, Kang Songlin has taken a series of cost reduction measures since taking office in 2019, and the fixed cost of Mercedes-Benz's passenger car business segment has been reduced by 16% compared with 2019. Second, the more profitable commercial vehicle sector and high-end passenger cars performed well. In 2021, the sales volume of Mercedes-Benz's high-end car series increased by 30%, and the average price of bicycles was about 354,000 yuan. The commercial vehicle business is a contributor to the increase in net profit, if the commercial vehicle business is excluded, the net profit of Mercedes-Benz's passenger car business still lags behind Toyota.
Toyota and Volkswagen net profits are close to the ceiling, and Ford is flipping at high speed
As the world's two largest car companies, Toyota and Volkswagen ranked first and second in net profit in 2019 before the outbreak of the global epidemic, respectively, and Toyota is the only car company in the world with a net profit of more than 100 billion. However, in the top 10 net profits in 2021, Toyota and Volkswagen, although still ranked high, are also the two with the lowest growth rate of net profit compared with 2019.
If in 2021, when the supply chain problems are prominent, Toyota can continue to maintain a 10% year-on-year increase in global sales with its refined management, with 10.5 million units winning the top spot, and maintain a net profit increase of 26.45% compared with 2019. Then Volkswagen is more like the end of the crossbow, not only sales fell again, with 8.88 million vehicles once again lost to Toyota, the gap with Toyota in net profit has further widened, compared with 2019 only increased by less than 10%.
The two most representative traditional manufacturers are facing ceilings close to sales and net profits, especially Volkswagen. This is also why Herbert Diess has repeatedly expressed his eagerness to boost mass production efficiency, even at the expense of "learning from Tesla".
Ford's huge loss in the first two years has made it a blessing in disguise, and it has embarked on the road of salary and reorganization and transformation early. Today, Ford's electrification transformation has begun to bear fruit, and in 2021, it will make $17.9 billion on high-end models and investment in Rivian, surpassing GM in market value and leaping to third place in net profit, which is a model of successful transformation.
Chinese car companies can't make a profit by making sales
Unfortunately, among the top 10 net profits of global car companies, we still don't see a single Chinese car company.
Fuel vehicles as the main business of traditional car companies naturally needless to say, in 2021 China's brand car sales is the highest is Geely, sales of 1.3 million, and the gap with international manufacturers is still very large, net profit is close to 5 billion yuan, want to enter the top ten need at least 6 Geely volume.
Even in the field of new energy vehicles that are regarded as overtaking in curves, domestic manufacturers BYD rank second in global sales in 2021, second only to Tesla; SAIC Motor Group climbed to third with the explosion of Wuling Hongguang miniEV, and the sum of the two sales can be tied with Tesla. However, the profit is not as good as Tesla's fraction. BYD's revenue exceeds 100 billion yuan and its net profit is only 3 billion yuan. SAIC relies on Wuling Hongguang miniEV to rush new energy sales, but Wuling Hongguang miniEV's bicycle profit is pitifully low.
Therefore, don't look at the momentum of Chinese car companies in domestic sales, and even pressure the joint venture factories. But if you really want to make money compared with the big manufacturers, Chinese car companies still have a long way to go. (Text/UVIS Auto Old Cannon)
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