“Audi has shown a strong financial performance in the first six months and is fully within the target corridor for operating return on sales,” says Audi Chief Financial Officer Jurgen Rittersberger.
28 Jul 2023 | 5279 Views | By Autocar Professional Bureau
After a strong start to the year, the Audi Group continued its successful trajectory in the first half of 2023. Between January and June, the brand group progressive delivered a total of 919,548 Audi, Bentley, and Lamborghini vehicles. This corresponds to an increase of more than 15.3 percent compared with ...
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After a strong start to the year, the Audi Group continued its successful trajectory in the first half of 2023. Between January and June, the brand group progressive delivered a total of 919,548 Audi, Bentley, and Lamborghini vehicles. This corresponds to an increase of more than 15.3 percent compared with the previous-year period.
The Group increased its deliveries, particularly in Europe and the USA. Revenue grew by 14.4 percent to Euro 34.2 billion, with an operating profit of Euro 3.4 billion. At 10.0 percent, the operating return on sales was within the target corridor of 9 to 11 percent. Audi once again delivered a strong performance with fully electric models: The increase of over 50 percent to 75,647 vehicle deliveries proves that the Four Rings is on the right track with its systematic electrification strategy.
“Audi has shown a strong financial performance in the first six months and is fully within the target corridor for operating return on sales,” says Audi Chief Financial Officer Jurgen Rittersberger. “Despite major challenges, this is a very good basis for the upcoming model offensive with more than 20 new models, of which more than ten will be fully electric.” The Audi Q6 e-tron series will kick off the offensive and marks the first time that e-mobility will come from Ingolstadt.
Deliveries: Audi brand celebrates its best June of all time
In the first half of 2023, the brand group delivered a total of 919,548 vehicles. This corresponds to a significant increase of 15.3 percent compared to the previous-year period (797,587 vehicles). The Audi brand recorded a significant increase in deliveries (907,111 vehicles) of almost 16 percent in the first half of 2023 compared with the first half of 2022, thereby continuing its growth path. Audi achieved its best June ever in terms of customer deliveries, with a total of 182,075 vehicles sold.
The Audi brand is systematically continuing its growth path for electric models. In the first half of 2023, it delivered 75,647 (H1 2022: 50,033) fully electric models, with the Audi Q4 e-tron making the greatest contribution (+163.7 percent). Overall, this corresponds to growth of 51.2 percent. As a result, the share of electric vehicles in the brand group’s deliveries rose to 8.2 percent.
Significant growth in the USA and Europe
The Audi brand delivered a strong performance in Europe: In the first half of the year, the Four Rings delivered 380,476 vehicles, an increase of more than 24 percent compared to the previous-year period. Electric models also recorded significant growth of over 34 percent compared to the first half of 2022. The brand’s home market of Germany accounted for a significant share of this result, with an increase of 19.7 percent and 125,690 models delivered.
With 108,345 Audi models delivered in the first half of the year, Audi increased its deliveries in the USA by almost 30 percent, demonstrating very strong growth. In terms of deliveries of fully electric models, Audi achieved a record performance, particularly in the second quarter, increasing the BEV share of deliveries to 10 percent.
Second-best first half year in Audi’s history in China
Audi is also increasing deliveries in China: Deliveries of almost 330,000 vehicles represent an increase of more than 2 percent compared to the previous-year period. The upward trend in the second quarter of 2023 was unmistakable: Between April and June, the Four Rings recorded an increase of 20.4 percent in the number of vehicles delivered. With this delivery result, Audi successfully completed the second-best first half year in the history of Audi in China.
Hildegard Wortmann says “Strong growth in all sales regions”
Hildegard Wortmann, Member of the Board of Management for Sales and Marketing, summarizes: “After a very good start to the year, we are concluding the first half of 2023 with strong growth in all major sales regions. Thanks to a great team effort and operational excellence, we increased deliveries to Audi customers by around 16 percent in the first half of 2023. In particular, the growth of over 50 percent for our fully electric models shows that we are successful on our path to becoming a provider of sustainable premium mobility.”
Strong financial performance in the first half of the year
On the back of good delivery figures, the brand group also posted strong revenue growth in the first half of 2023. Revenue increased by 14.4 percent to Euro 34,169 (H1 2022: 29,869) million. The share of EU taxonomy-aligned revenue increased once again, reaching 14.9 percent (H1 2022: 12.3 percent). CFO Jürgen Rittersberger says: “By increasing green revenue in the first half of the year, we once again demonstrated that we are making good progress with the implementation of our ESG strategy.”
The Audi Group’s operating profit for the first half of the year amounted to Euro 3,417 (H1 2022: Euro 4,933) million. The decrease is mainly due to negative effects from raw material hedging of Euro 1.1 billion compared to the previous year. While these had a positive effect of Euro 0.4 billion in the first half of 2022, these effects decreased the operating profit in the first half of 2023 by Euro-0.7 billion. Overall, the Audi Group achieved a double-digit operating return on sales of 10.0 (H1 2022: 16.5) percent and is therefore within the target corridor. Excluding raw material hedging effects, the operating return on sales was 12.2 percent.
The Bentley, Lamborghini, and Ducati brands contributed significantly to the Group’s solid half-year figures.
Bentley delivered a total of 7,096 (H1 2022: 7,398) vehicles, 4.1 percent down on the previous-year figure. Revenue fell slightly by 1.5 percent to Euro 1,681 (H1 2022: 1,707) million, as did the operating profit of Euro 390 (H1 2022: 398) million. Bentley’s operating return on sales remains strong, at 23.2 percent, on par with the previous year.
In the first half of the year, Lamborghini delivered 5,341 (H1 2022: 5,090) vehicles, an improvement of 4.9 percent. Revenue increased due to higher sales volume, higher personalization and successful edition models significantly by 6.7 percent to Euro 1,421 (H1 2022: 1,332) million, while operating profit increased by 7.2 percent to Euro 456 (H1 2022: 425) million. Lamborghini improved its operating return on sales to a very strong 32.1 (H1 2022: 31.9) percent.
Ducati delivered 34,976 (H1 2022: 33,366) motorcycles for an increase of 4.8 percent. Due to higher volumes and an improved product mix, revenue increased by a strong 22.3 percent to Euro 663 (H1 2022: 542) million. Operating profit increased by 70.9 percent to €116 (H1 2022: 68) million, while the return on sales was 17.6 percent (H1 2022: 12.6 percent).
The Audi Group’s financial result increased by 16.8 percent to Euro 880 (H1 2022: 754) million, partly due to higher income from interest and securities. The Audi Group’s China business contributed €457 (H1 2022: 431) million to the financial result.
Profit after tax at the end of the first half of the year amounted to Euro 3,262 (H1 2022: 4,390) million.
The Audi Group’s net cash flow in the first half of 2023 decreased to €1,882 (H1 2022: 2,593) million. The decrease is mainly due to lower profit after tax. Other reasons include increased inventories in preparation for the ambitious sales plan for the second half of the year, as well as investments in the upcoming model initiative.
Forecast for 2023 largely confirmed
For 2023, the Audi Group continues to expect deliveries of between 1.8 and 1.9 million vehicles and revenue of between Euro 69 and Euro 72 billion. The operating return on sales is expected to remain in the range of 9 to 11 percent. Based on current planning, the Audi Group expects net cash flow to be at the lower end of the forecast range of between Euro 4.5 billion and Euro 5.5 billion. As a result of higher upfront investments in future technologies, the research and development cost ratio is now expected to be slightly above the corridor of 6 to 7 percent.
Ambitious program to improve competitiveness
In 2030, the Audi Group is planning to generate a return on sales of around 14 percent per year. To achieve this goal, Audi has initiated an ambitious performance program. The main focus is on improving product profitability, especially for electric vehicles. Other measures include a strong revenue positioning, particularly in terms of price enforcement, aftersales, and new business models.