The long shutdown of auto factories and car dealers and the slump in customer demand haveAudilet it slide deep into the red. The VW subsidiary sold 22 percent fewer cars worldwide in the first half of the year, sales fell 29 percent to only 20.5 billion euros and the operating loss was 750 million euros.
“We have been producing at all Audi locations worldwide since June 22,” said Audi boss Markus Duesmann (51) on Friday in Ingolstadt. But “despite the first positive signals from the markets, 2020 remains extremely challenging,” stressed CFO Arno Antlitz (50). For the year as a whole, the Executive Board expects lower demand worldwide, significantly less sales and an operating result “significantly below the previous year”, but “clearly positive”. Last year Audi contributed 4.5 billion euros to the VW Group’s operating profit.
Overall, Duesmann, who took over the leadership role from Bram Schot (59) in April, is showing a high comeback pace. According to the “Transfer Reports” for today’s Audi Annual General Meeting will show a return on sales of 3.3 percent (EBIT). In 2021, Duesmann plans to generate an operating profit of 4.2 billion euros again, in 2022 it should be more than in the pre-crisis year – and in 2023 even 6 billion euros. The return on sales would then again be on the course predicted in 2019 at 9.2 percent. The target corridor is 9 to 11 percent.
In the first half of the year, Audi had only sold 707,000 vehicles, a decline similar to that of its larger competitors Mercedes-Benz and BMW. In China, Audi demand slumped 3 percent, in Europe by 37 percent.
The Audi boss has no plans to cut jobs further. The reduction of 9500 jobs in Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm had already been decided in November and thus before the outbreak of the corona pandemic. “I am convinced that this is sufficient for us,” said Duesmann. “Nothing else is planned.”
“This is a medium-sized revolution”
On the contrary: Audi hopes to score with the investments and thus also benefit from synergies in the VW empire. The Artemis project just launched should develop a completely new electrical system for many vehicles in the VW group and “get electric cars off to a quick start,” said Duesmann, who also heads the research and development of the entire group on the VW board. The joint electrical platform PPE from Audi and Porsche is already well advanced. Artemis run in parallel and go much further. In the future, the series would no longer be sorted “according to the sheet metal cladding” and the length of the vehicles, but according to the status of the on-board network. “This is a medium-sized revolution.” The first Artemis model is said to be an Audi and will be launched in four years.
Audi naturally wants to comply with the EU’s CO2 requirements, said Duesmann. Responded to the announced reduction in CO2 emissions at BMW in the next ten years, he said: “We have a similar goal to BMW.” In 2025, Audi plans to offer 20 battery-electric cars.
The Audi Annual General Meeting on Friday was the 131st and most likely the last in the company’s history. In the evening, at the request of VW, it should resolve the squeeze-out, i.e. the exclusion of the last remaining small shareholders. These still held almost 0.4 percent of the shares. A court-appointed auditor put the company value of Audi AG at 66.7 billion euros. The online general meeting was also one of the longest in the company’s history. The free shareholders had submitted countless critical questions on various topics, from the appropriateness of the cash compensation to the complaint that there was no model car as a shareholder gift at an online general meeting.