The global automotive supply industry has put the problems of the Corona crisis behind it and set a new sales record last year. According to a study by the management consultancy Berylls Group, the 100 largest supplier companies increased their total sales by 16 percent compared to the pre-Corona year 2019 to 1.064 trillion euros. This is the first time that the one trillion euro mark has been broken, according to the Berylls Group, which has presented its annual study for the twelfth time. The main reasons for the increase in sales were price increases and the generally higher automobile production.
However, a closer look shows that while suppliers, especially in Europe, are suffering from high energy costs, unrest in the supply chains and the resulting falling margins, Chinese companies have hardly been affected by these adversities. In Germany for example, producer prices rose by 32.9 percent in 2022 compared to the previous year. The local heavyweights are already in the alarm mood, the heads of the works councils at Bosch, ZF Friedrichshafen and Mahle are made representations to the Chancellery
to explore possible help. Overall, despite the increase in sales, the profitability of the industry fell: from an average of 6.3 percent in the previous year to 5.6 percent now; German providers achieved an average margin of 5.8 percent.
China on the rise
The suppliers from China are a clear exception. According to the results of the Berylls study, their average profitability of 7.8 percent was already well above the industry average. Only American suppliers can set a similar highlight with average margins of eight percent. A clear trend: “We expect that the sales and margin shifts in the major supplier markets in favor of Chinese suppliers will continue in the next few years,” says Alexander Timmer, Partner at Berylls Strategy Advisors. “The main drivers for this are the progressive electrification and digitization of vehicles.”
The best example of the rise of Chinese companies is the battery manufacturer CATL, which has been in the ranking since 2018. Thanks to its market power and the global electric car boom, CATL was able to increase its sales by around 85 percent in 2022 – and at the same time achieved a margin of more than 17 percent. In the ranking, the group improved its position by three places to seventh place and is now among the top ten for the first time. Within the top 100, “no other supplier comes even close to this outstanding success,” according to the study’s authors. The other big winners were mainly chip suppliers, which also include the Dax group Infineon – in the ranking in 45th place.
The increasing importance of batteries and semiconductors in the car market is also clearly reflected in the composition of the Berylls Top 100, which is constantly changing. Because of the trend towards electric, software-driven cars, twelve new suppliers have now moved up into the top 100 ranking compared to 2012, according to Berylls. In 2022, these accounted for a sales share of 9 percent among the hundred largest suppliers. In 2017, the share was still around 1 percent.
The world’s largest supplier company is still the German Bosch Group with annual sales of 52.6 billion euros in 2022. A total of 17 suppliers from Germany are among the top 100. Only Japan has a higher number with 22 companies. From the USA 16 supplier companies are on the ranking, ten from South Korea and more China eight.