Car manufacturers report higher profits and record turnover rises

Stellantis has seen sales increase by almost half over the past six months and the automaker has recovered significantly from the impact of the coronavirus crisis. This was reported by the merged company, which produces brands such as Fiat and Chrysler, Peugeot and Citroën, Tuesday in advance.

The annual turnover increased by 46 percent to 75.3 billion euros. Just a year ago, consumers were held hostage by the uncertainty of the coronavirus crisis and the travel restrictions that were introduced.

The merged group reported an adjusted operating profit of 8.6 billion euros, with a profit margin of 11.4 percent. In North America, where vaccination started quickly, the margin was as high as 16.1 percent at record profitability.

For all regions, the group maintained the previously issued growth forecast for 2021, with the exception of America, where the growth forecast was adjusted from 8 to 10 percent.

The group expects to achieve an adjusted operating profit margin of about 10 percent this year.

Meanwhile, BMW has seen a strong increase in sales in the first half of 2021. This was shown on Tuesday by the figures of the German automaker.

Car sales increased by 39.1 percent in the first six months of the year to almost 1.4 million cars, and sales are also 7.1 percent above pre-coronavirus levels in 2019.

The number of electric cars sold has even increased by 149%.

“Strong sales”, concluded CEO Pieter note from BMW in an explanation of the figures. He expects a “solid and profitable revenue growth”.

BMW did warn Tuesday of a difficult supply of chips. The car manufacturer said it could not rule out that a shortage of this will affect sales this year.