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Halo cars used to rev at miles per hour. Now they whirr at earnings per share.
Several star models were highlighted in the marques’ half-yearly results last week and revealed where their makers make money.
The diverse Volkswagen Group on July 27, for example, announced its sales revenue for the first half of this year rose 7.3 per cent to €115.9 billion (US$137.42 billion). Operating profit increased to €8.9 billion from last year’s €7.5 billion, and operating return on sales grew to 7.7 per cent from 7 per cent.
Profit after tax was €6.6 billion and nearly doubled last year’s €3.6 billion, “which had been negatively affected by special items”.
However, Volkswagen car brand’s operating profit rose from €900 million to €1.8 billion in the period, thanks to the “positive impact” of volume-, mix- and margin-related factors, exchange rates and optimisation of costs. Audi’s operating profit of €2.7 billion was on par with the previous year.
Seat’s climbed by 40.9 per cent to €130 million and Bentley’s rose to €13 million from a loss of €22 million “due to exchange rate effects and lower expenses for the development of the model portfolio”, the group said.
