Volkswagen Announces $12 Billion Profit
Volkswagen looks back at its best year in history. At a press conference today, Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn announced a consolidated group profit before tax of €9 billion ($12.45 billion). €1.9 billion ($2.6 billion) of that is Volkswagen’s share out of their China businesses.
“Volkswagen again extended its leading position in China, growing by 37.4 percent to nearly 2 million vehicles,” says a press release from Wolfsburg. Volkswagen’s global market share stands at 11.4 percent now.
Emboldened by the good news, Volkswagen reiterates its “Strategy 2018”- with slight changes.
Instead of becoming the number one automaker and unseating the moving target Toyota, Volkswagen now aims at “unit sales to more than 10 million vehicles by 2018 and to lift the Group’s profit before tax to over 8 percent.”
You don’t say.
Just yesterday, Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda said he is aiming also at 10 million units, however by 2015, three years before Volkswagen.
In the meantime, General Motors, also powered by China, is likely to unseat Toyota this year as the world’s largest automaker.
With cash reserves approaching those of Libya (net liquidity in Volkswagen’s automotive division stands at $25 billion), Volkswagen goes well equipped into a race that will entertain us for years to come. And they don’t waste any time. In the first two months of 2011, Volkswagen delivered approximately 1.2 million vehicles worldwide, up 17.5 percent.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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I wonder how much of that is directly or indirectly attributable to various government incentives and QE1/2/...
Cash for clunkers and the European equivalents were 2009 - so the 2010 performance was on their own merit. 2011's great start is also on their own merits.
Cash for clunkers and the European equivalents were 2009 - so the 2010 performance was on their own merit. 2011's great start is also on their own merits.
Reminds me Toyota before GFC or carmaggedon when they made US$ 10B in profits and were sitting on a HUGE pile of cash, IIRC US$ 100B