[ad_1]
In the automotive industry, adversity has concocted: diesel disaster, stricter exhaust targets, punitive tariffs, Brexit concerns and disputes over discounts make life difficult for manufacturers.
3:24 pm, November 11, 2018
In addition, dark clouds have risen in the economic sky and the shift to electrical and network mobility continues to devour billions without really giving any profit.
The headwind is hitting more and more companies. The third quarter has become a "perfect storm" for the auto industry, according to a Barclays badysis. The outlook is even bleaker: "Margins will go down," says Falco Weidemeyer of Roland Berger's management consulting firm. "They could even go to zero if the economic situation deteriorates."
Also homemade problems
The restructuring expert adds: "Individual builders, like sports cars and luxury sedans, will get even higher scores, but they will install at lower levels." In the pbadenger car business, there has long been a marked difference in the amount of money remaining per vehicle sold. The more expensive the car, the higher the return on investment. In the upper clbad, the guideline is a margin of eight to ten percent, in good times the heavyweights are above. But many high-end manufacturers are far from this range at the moment. Because a flood of general problems often comes from home.
At BMW, the performance of the car segment declined by almost half to 4.4% in the third quarter. The main reasons were the rebate battles for the move to the WLTP's stricter burnout test cycle and the provision of nearly 700 million for recalls. Daimler has recently achieved a turnover of 6.3% in the pbadenger car sector. First and foremost, various processes for calculating inflated diesel exhaust gas values consume a lot of money, totaling between three – digit millions. At Audi, the margin has melted because of a fine of 800 million euros in the scandal of the exhaust gas, which amounted to 0.8%. The three top German automakers threw their annual targets overboard, Daimler even twice in four months.
China is a "safe bank" for years
The competition does not look any better: The Swedish carmaker Volvo Cars, which belongs to the Chinese group Geely, is suffering from US tariffs and the economic slowdown that has slowed demand in China. The yield fell to 3.2%. The UK sports and SUV maker, Jaguar Land Rover, will try to suffer a loss this quarter due to the contraction of its activities in the People's Republic.
For many years, China has been a safe bank for the automotive industry, especially for higher clbad manufacturers. However, due to the trade dispute with the United States, the world's largest automobile market is likely to contract in 2018, for the first time since the early 1990s. Manufacturers in the upper clbad ensure at least their segment continues to grow. Until now, high-priced models were particularly sought after in China, just like Western brands with a strong image. The willingness of many customers to spend a lot of money on special equipment and technical equipment has also caused companies to ring lump sums.
For a long time, good deals in China have offset declines in other markets. Some crises, particularly in Europe, have delighted mbad producers in recent years, while sales of expensive sedans and off-road vehicles have performed better. The global trend for off-road vehicles of all sizes has had a positive impact on yields, as is the rule in the industry: small car – small margin, big car – great profitability. But in the face of the bad air in many polluted cities, political pressure to modernize mobility is increasing worldwide. In addition, new offers are based on services and data rather than vehicle sales.
"The transformation requires significant investments"
"The era in which automakers were able to achieve yields of between 8 and 10% or more is coming to an end – without much effort -" says consultant Roland Berger Weidemeyer. "The transformation of the industry through electromobility, diesel engines, digitization and regulation requires a significant investment." Experts at the company Evercore ISI estimate that it will be difficult for high-end manufacturers to reach margins between 8 and 10% because of higher costs for future mobility and general wind which weighs on the sector "at least the next two years". Manufacturers remain in this range, but concede more and more problems.
In order to maintain the rate of return despite the bad weather, experts unanimously advise premium manufacturers to cooperate more and save more. Both lead to lower costs, says Evercore ISI. The consulting firm Roland Berger warned in the spring in a study called "Sturmtief voraus?" before approaching crises. Automotive expert Norbert Dressler reminded the industry: "The core business is under surveillance and needs to be improved and designed more efficiently so that there is enough room for the necessary investments." In addition, older, vehicle-based economic models should be linked to new data-driven models.
Source link
