The chiagni and fotti of the car manufacturers (see the Stellantis and Renault cases)
The main car manufacturers of the Old Continent sell fewer cars but earn more than ever before. And they all continue to complain… Facts, names and numbers
They are a single and continuous complaint: Chinese competition, the pandemic, the absence of chips, the increase in the prices of raw materials and energy, the Wrath of Joe Biden , the ecological and energy transition, the lack of subsidies , the Euro7, the indifference of users towards electric cars, R&D expenses, costs that are too high for engines with a lower environmental impact… And yet, European car manufacturers have never been making money more than in the last period. while selling far fewer cars. It happened ( and we had already talked about it by analyzing the accounts ) at Stellantis, but it also happens at Renault.
DE MEO BRINDA FOR RENAULT ACCOUNTS
“We make more money now that we sell 2 million cars than when we sold 3.5 million. It will be difficult to go back on maintaining margins». Luca de Meo , managing director of the Renault group, said so in an interview with Repubblica , celebrating the flourishing economic situation of the French brand.
“These are the best results Renault has ever achieved in its history. Above all as regards the generation of cash, which assures us a future in a sector that continues to require investments due to the transformations underway. In the first six months of 2023, we generated the cash flow for all of 2022. Reducing costs, opening the gap between costs and prices, lowering the breakeven by 50%. That's how we secure the future."
And to the journalist from Repubblica who asks him if car prices will decrease, he replies: «After a year of inflation, I imagine a deflationary period on energy, logistics and raw materials. This situation can be managed in two ways: by lowering costs and prices, or by lowering costs and keeping prices stable. I see the second more probable».
TAVARES AND COST REDUCTION
This is precisely because «we make more money now that we sell 2 million cars than when we sold 3.5 million. It will be difficult to go back on maintaining margins». To be competitive, after all, Carlos Tavares also said it when presenting the updated accounts of Stellantis, «we have to work more on reducing costs, to ensure that we give the market the breathing space it needs, while protecting our unit margins ».
In short, we are heading towards a period of austerity which will affect almost all the car manufacturers of the Old Continent. Even those that historically sell the most, like Volkswagen, are cutting back and rearranging to save every single penny .
According to reports from the Handelsblatt , the German business daily, the last meeting between the head of the German brand, Thomas Schäfer, and his management proved to be a real shampoo for the more than 2,000 managers present and connected.
VOLKSWAGEN HAS “THE ROOF ON FIRE”
«The roof is on fire», the manager-engineer would have said bluntly. "Everything is at stake" and in the midst of the delicate phase of the ecological transition "the costs are too high in many areas", a phrase that suggests that the Group will draw up a draconian plan to optimize expenses in the summer.
LAYOUTS IN SIGHT FOR EUROPEAN CAR MANUFACTURERS?
It will be necessary to understand how these corporate policies will affect employment. What is certain is that all the historic brands of old Europe blame Tesla and its price war , Euro7, the Brussels roadmap for the electric car, the competition from Beijing which is about to invade us with cars at low price, to the absence of subsidies. Complaints heard over and over again. But it's the market, beauties: if you aren't able to be competitive, you end up out…
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/il-chiagni-e-fotti-delle-case-automobilistiche-vedi-i-casi-stellantis-e-renault/ on Fri, 28 Jul 2023 08:01:37 +0000.