The management of the Volkswagen Group is presenting the detailed business figures from the past year today and wants to explain key projects for 2023. There could also be news about the strategy in Berlin, as was previously heard from those around the company. Among other things, Europe’s largest car group wants to expand its range of electric vehicles, push ahead with the planning of further battery cell factories and make up for earlier delays in the area of software and digitization.
Key data from the 2022 balance sheet are already known. The bottom line is that Germany’s largest company earned almost 3 percent more than in the previous year, net income rose to 15.84 billion euros. If you include special factors such as the exit from the robot car start-up Argo AI or interest rate developments, the operating profit came to 22.12 billion euros – an increase of a good 15 percent. Group sales also increased due to price increases for a number of car models from 250.2 billion to 279.2 billion euros.
At the same time, the total deliveries of the network of companies with brands such as VW passenger cars, Audi, Porsche, Skoda and Seat 2022 fell significantly by 7 percent to almost 8.3 million vehicles. The main reasons for this were the ongoing delivery problems for electronics and some raw materials and – after further corona lockdowns – the difficult trade with China.
Recently, customers often had to wait a long time. In 2023, Volkswagen wants to resolve the production backlog and process the order volume. This should also boost sales, with 9.5 million units being targeted after 8.3 million vehicles last year. CFO Arno Antlitz spoke of a still “difficult global environment” and “significant challenges in the supply chain”. The VW subsidiary Porsche had already presented its figures on Monday.
