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Cars ready for delivery at Volkswagen in Wolfsburg (in November 2021)
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Swen gatekeeper / dpa
Despite the chip crisis, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Volkswagen and other international automakers earned significantly more in the past year.
The operating profit of the world's 16 largest car companies climbed by 168 percent year-on-year to a total of around 134 billion euros, as determined by the auditing and consulting company EY.
"Overall, the top car companies managed the semiconductor crisis remarkably well last year," summed up the EY expert for the mobility sector in Western Europe, Constantin Gall. «
The shortage of supplies for semiconductors and other electronic components has led to production restrictions across the industry, and there is no sign of a quick improvement.
According to Gall, the strategy of installing the scarce chips primarily in comparatively expensive cars and at the same time limiting discounts has paid off for the manufacturers.
"Margins were at record levels in 2021," said the expert, referring to the profit-to-sales ratio.
In terms of profit margin, the US electric car manufacturer Tesla did best in comparison to the industry giants.
He achieved a value of 12.1 percent, just ahead of BMW and Mercedes-Benz, which each achieved twelve percent.
The chip crisis hit the German manufacturers in particular, whose sales fell by four percent.
Competitors from Japan, on the other hand, increased by five percent, and South Korea by as much as seven percent.
The industry is also struggling with problems this year, said EY partner Peter Fuss.
»On the one hand, the lack of semiconductors and other preliminary products and raw materials is hampering production.
On the other hand, the war in Ukraine is an enormous burden for the industry.«
In view of these uncertainties, forecasts for this year are hardly possible.
The industry drives on sight, "and new car prices will rise rather than fall," said Fuß.
fdi/dpa
