Audi, price effect and China: operating profit plummets 91% to 106 million
Confirmation for the year's targets: drop in turnover from EUR 70 to 63-68 billion and decrease in profit margin to 6-8%.
2' min read
2' min read
Audi posted a sharp drop in profits in the third quarter. The Ingolstadt-based carmaker, the jewel of theVolkswagen Group and once, with Porsche, cash cow for the parent company, reported a 91% drop in operating profit, to EUR 106 million. Turnover in the third quarter was approximately EUR 15 billion, 5.5% less than the previous year. While operating profit in the first nine months reached EUR 2.08 million (EUR 4.6 billion in 2023). According to Audi's chief financial officer Jürgen Rittersberger, the decisive factor for the poor result is declining sales and 'very intense price competition in Europe and China'.
Provisions totalling EUR 1.2 billion for the Audi plant in Brussels, which the company plans to close, also had a negative impact.
The Four Rings' sales in the quarter fell by 16 per cent to around 403,000 vehicles. In the nine months Audi sold 1.24 million cars, 11 per cent less than a year earlier. Things were especially worse in the US. In China, Audi sales decreased by 8.5 per cent to 477,000 units.
Rittersberger confirmed the annual forecasts already lowered in the summer. As a result, Audi expects a drop in Group sales from 70 to 63-68 billion Euro and a decrease in the profit margin to 6-8%. But it will have to rise from the current 4.5% in the nine months (compared to 9.1% a year ago). Still in the first nine months,
Last week Audi made it known that it was in contact with a potential investor for its factory in Brussels. The site, which employs around 3,000 people, may be forced to close due to high running costs and low demand for the only electric model produced there.
