Audi can still continue to produce and develop – but the future could look different. Hildegard Wortmann, Head of Marketing and Sales at the Ingolstadt-based car manufacturer, sees “the first clouds are gathering in terms of sales development,” she revealed to the “Wirtschaftswoche” on Friday. According to Wortmann, orders have fallen “by 15 percent”, although the order backlog, at 1.9 million vehicles, is twice as large as in previous years.
In view of the change in the auto industry, Audi is facing “a fundamental need for change,” said Wortmann. “With the challenges facing the auto industry, we have to change even faster – otherwise we’ll just be out of the question.” Wortmann caused an unpleasant surprise last year when she said at an event: “There is a 50 percent -Chance that Audi will still be around in ten years.” According to Wortmann, she would repeat this sentence today.
CFO Jürgen Rittersberger said on Friday in Ingolstadt that the supply of semiconductors improved in the third quarter, but is unlikely to function smoothly in the coming year either. Companies and customers are struggling with rising costs: “It will not leave us unaffected,” said Rittersberger.
The Volkswagen Group subsidiary now only expects 1.65 to 1.75 million vehicle deliveries and 60 to 63 billion euros in sales this year – i.e. around 150,000 fewer car sales and two billion euros less in sales than previously planned. However, at eleven to 13 percent, the return on sales should be two percentage points higher than previously expected.
The order books are very well filled, said Rittersberger. On average, car buyers would have to wait six months for a new car from Audi. He expects demand to be even greater than production next year. Therefore, the prices remain stable and high, there are hardly any discounts, and lease returns have good residual values as used cars. On the other hand, costs increased significantly. In addition, agreements in the upper range are to be expected in the current collective bargaining round.
In the third quarter, the Audi brand increased its deliveries by twelve percent to a good 408,000 vehicles. Sales increased by a third to 14.7 billion euros. The operating result almost doubled from 0.7 to 1.3 billion euros.
In the first nine months of the year, deliveries of just under 1.2 million vehicles were eleven percent down on the previous year. But sales rose by ten percent to 44.6 billion, the operating result to 6.25 billion euros. The Lamborghini and Ducati brands, which belong to Audi, and the luxury brand Bentley, which was consolidated at Audi for the first time, also contributed to this.
