On May 4, the Volkswagen Group announced its first quarter earnings report, with sales revenue of 62.7 billion euros (about 437 billion yuan), unchanged from the previous year, and operating profit excluding special items of 8.5 billion euros (about 59.2 billion yuan), an increase of 76% year-on-year.
It is worth mentioning that the operating profit margin of the Volkswagen Group has increased significantly, from 7.7% to 13.5% in the same period last year. Volkswagen owes this to the improvement of its sales portfolio, as well as better pricing, continuous cost control and flexibility offered by the Group's global presence.
For Volkswagen Group, which is headquartered in the heart of Europe, this past quarter is not ordinary. The escalation of the situation in Russia and Ukraine, the new crown epidemic, the shortage of semiconductors and many other unfavorable factors have challenged the normal production and operation of the Volkswagen Group.
However, by reallocating resources in major markets such as Europe, China, and the Americas, the Volkswagen Group has mitigated the impact of some semiconductor and wiring harness shortages.
In terms of the performance of its brands and divisions, the Volkswagen Volume brand, which includes the Volkswagen passenger car brand, the Skoda, Seat/CUPRA and Volkswagen commercial vehicle brands, was the most affected by external factors, with first-quarter revenue of only 24.4 billion euros, down 11% year-on-year, and operating profit excluding special project expenses falling from 1.4 billion euros to 900 million euros, down 36% year-on-year.
In contrast, the performance of the luxury brands of the Volkswagen Group is quite impressive. Operating profits for Audi, Lamborghini and Bentley doubled to €3.5 billion, while Porsche's operating profit increased from €1.2 billion to €1.4 billion. Together, they contributed to a significant increase in the profitability of the Volkswagen Group.
In terms of sales volume, in the first quarter of 2022, the Volkswagen Group delivered a total of 1.9 million new vehicles, down 21.9% year-on-year. Among them, the sales and delivery of pure electric vehicles accounted for 5.2% of the total delivery, reaching 99,064 units. The sharp contrast between the year-on-year decline in sales and the rapid growth of profitability shows that the Volkswagen Group's bicycle profit has increased significantly.
In the future, the Volkswagen Group will continue to launch more new pure electric vehicles, increase the scale of battery production, increase production, and continue to expand around the world. According to the plan, volkswagen group will increase the number of electric vehicle models to 25, and has announced an investment of 7.1 billion US dollars (about 46.9 billion yuan) in electric vehicles in North America.