Czech carmaker Skoda Auto today announced its results for the first nine months of calendar year 2022. In what remains a challenging global market environment, the company says it saw a stable return on sales of 5.6% and an operating profit of 856 million euros (-4.9% YoY) in the first three quarters of 2022.
This, according to Skoda Auto, proves that the measures introduced under its efficiency programme are yielding results. India, where the carmaker is seeing strong demand for its Kushaq SUV and Slavia sedan, is growing in its importance as a global market.
The company said: “Due to the high order backlog and sharp increase in deliveries in the important growth market of India (+186.9 %), Skoda also expects a strongly positive operating profit for the year as a whole.”
Skoda India sold a total of 38,300 units in the January to September 2022 period, posting 187% growth and accounting for 7% of Skoda’s total cumulative sales of 544,500 units. This strong market performance, where the sales in the first nine months of 2022 have already exceeded 2021 full-year sales, takes it ahead of China (36,300 units, -31% YoY) and Russia (16,600 units, -77% YoY). The Kushaq with 19,500 units and the Slavia with 15,400 units were the key growth drivers for the India market.
“Demand for Skoda vehicles remains high. We are now doing everything we can to continue processing the still high order backlog. We also want to forge ahead with the very successful development in the Indian market: Our deliveries in India have already exceeded the previous year’s result. We want to build on this and gain further momentum in this important growth market,” said Martin Jahn, Skoda Auto Board Member for Sales and Marketing.
Skoda’s global sales from January to September at 544,500 vehicles are down 22.3% YoY. In its statement, the company said “the ongoing supply strain due to global events; the war in Ukraine, significant increase in raw material and energy prices, ongoing shortage of semiconductors and unstable supply chains weighed heavily on the Czech carmaker’s quarterly results.”
