Manufacturers have never displayed such health. In 2022, the turnover and profit of the 16 main automotive groups on the planet have reached “new heights”, points out the firm EY in a study published on Monday, which speaks of “an exceptionally successful year” for the sector. .
In terms of cumulative turnover, this increased by 18% compared to 2021, EY calculated. With 1,900 billion euros, it even reached “its highest level in the annual period, exceeding the previous record level of 2019 by 12%. The operating profit of the 16 main groups increased by 16%, to nearly 157 billion euros.
And yet, these record results go hand in hand with declining sales. For the manufacturers studied, they fell in total by almost 3%, or around 1.7 million vehicles. It is on the Chinese market that automotive groups recorded the most significant declines (-12%). The decline amounted to 6% in Western Europe and 5% in the American market.
“The year 2022 was marked by significant delivery difficulties and, at the same time, by strong demand, especially for high-end vehicles”, analyzes EY in its study. Thus, “builders were able to impose high selling prices, which enabled them to achieve record sales and profits,” notes the audit and consulting firm.
The top 3 global automotive groups, by revenue, remain unchanged. The German Volkswagen group remains in the lead in 2022, ahead of its Japanese competitors Toyota and Franco-Italian-American Stellantis. But the biggest increase is to be credited to Tesla (51% compared to 2021), far ahead of BMW (28%) and Mitsubishi (27%). The leader in the electric market is also the one that achieved the largest profit margin last year (16.8%), ahead of Mercedes Benz (13.6%) and Stellantis (11.7%).
These excellent financial results are good news for the energy transition, observes EY, because they “allow manufacturers to finance the heavy investments to be made to continue the transition to electromobility”. The whole challenge in 2023 for manufacturers “will be to keep prices high in a context where inflation weighs on consumers’ purchasing power”, nevertheless underlines EY, which predicts that “pressure on prices will be strong”. Tesla has already opened hostilities, embarking on a strategy of drastically lowering the prices of its vehicles, thus destabilizing the entire market.
