Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles (VWCV) recovers record sales revenue, profits and returns in the 2017 financial year. The brand is on track for success in the current year. In addition, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles is vigorously pursuing its strategic role in the future fields of electric mobility, digitalisation and mobile online services, developing new customer offerings and opening up new markets.
Last year VWCV delivered around 498,000 urban delivery vans and pick-ups to customers all over the world (2016: 478,000; +4.2 cents). Sales revenue rose to around € 11.9 billion (2016: € 11.1 billion, +7.1 per cent). The operating result was € 853 million (2016: € 455 million, +87.6 per cent). The operating return rose to 7.2 per cent (2016: 4.1 per cent).
Dr Eckhard Scholz, Chairman of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles' Board of Management, said: "This is the highest profit in our company's history." This top result is due to our completely renewed product portfolio and our systematic implementation of competitive cost structures. " Scholz explains, "But the way to the strategic reorientation of the brand", Scholz explains.
The growth in results is driven by margin, volume and exchange rate factors. "The extensive measures to protect our results, the updating of the model range, investments in new production equipment and the new Crafter site are paying off", Scholz underlines. "
The head of the brand emphasizes that maximum customer focus is the key to success. Their agenda is therefore our agenda. "" We offer our customers real added value for their work, their business model and their everyday working life. " As examples, Scholz cites the development of new models together with customers and a customer advisory board that is trend-setting for the industry
Currently, customers from the trades and parcel services are testing the e-Crafter, which is now ready to go into production , to be finalized in real-world testing, before its sales launch in September 2018.
Deliveries to customers
Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles delivered 497,894 light commercial vehicles of the Amarok, Caddy 4, Crafter and T6 product lines worldwide in 2017, which is 4.2 per cent or 19,920 more vehicles to customers than in the same period last year (477,974). Scholz explains this will be 2017. An increase of nearly 20,000 vehicles is a respectable result and brings the brand new all-time sales record.
Broken down by product line:
• 206,100 T-series vehicles (198,600; +3.8 per cent)
• 165,900 vehicles of the Caddy product line (162,400; +2.2 per cent)
• 78,900 vehicles of the Amarok product line (69,200; +14.0 per cent)
• 47,000 vehicles of the Crafter product line (47,900, -1.8 per cent)
T6 and Caddy 4, have once again improved on the already high level of the previous year, Scholz emphasises. The Amarok also has its worldwide sales thanks to its new V6 engine. The new Crafter has not fully developed its full potential due to its start-up status, but is almost on par with its predecessor. However, there is still a lot of "room for improvement", as the new Crafter is not on sale in all versions and across all European markets.
T6 passenger vans at the beginning of December 2017. Since the beginning of March, the sales department has resumed the delivery process of the T6 at full speed. Scholz formally apologizes to customers and adds: "We had no alternative but stop deliveries and I thank our customers for their brand loyalty, patience and enthusiasm for the T6."
In Europe the brand sold 373,160 vehicles (2016: 363,656; +2.6 per cent). The T6 series and the Caddy as each other deliver one-fifth of the market share in their market segments. In order to develop markets beyond the traditional European markets, the brand is embracing consistent internationalization through CKD production in various countries. In 2017, the Caddy started production in Algeria at a Group CKD multi-brand factory and the Amarok CKD production in Ecuador.
JAC to form MPV joint venture are in progress. From today's point of view, more cooperation is the way forward. Scholz adds: "There are many things you can do better with a partner."
Production at the sites
In 2017, the productions at the sites in Germany and Poland have reached a volume of 494,511 vehicles, an increase of 16 per cent - a new record. The home plant in Hanover produced 200,800 T6 and Amarok, that was lastly achieved 44 years ago.
"I would like to thank my colleagues at the assembly lines, who have made many extra shots to get every vehicle to the customer on time", Scholz says.
High demand for all product lines has a positive effect on the employment at the sites. At the Hannover plans, a total of 768 temporary workers were transferred to the permanent workforce between July 2017 and March 2018.
Future fields
"Electric mobility, digitization, mobile online services offer the opportunity to combine our experience, our tradition and the future of the future, generating efficient, promising and cost-reducing business models for our customers", emphasizes Scholz.
Solutions for the change are for example, through the e-Crafter or through the design of the "Urban Logistics" project initiative, in which VWCV, together with Hannover, the state capital of Lower Saxony, and university research institutions are carrying out empirical studies on the change in urban traffic and goods traffic.
Together with our customers, we are going to further the electrification of certain types of commercial vehicles for the cities. Not every use of purpose can be performed with electric drive. Overland ride with a high operational performance, trailer operations with heavy loads, rough terrain like construction sites, forest or emergency services still require diesel engines ", Scholz says.
But the market penetration of alternative drive systems is still as far as ever, due to the further delay to the political and regulatory framwork, Scholz explains. Electric vehicles must be climate-neutral. "If the almost one million craftsperson companies in Germany alone wants to meet their requirements," Scholz underlines.
Summary
The aim of the brand is to offer its customers the best transport solutions in the world. All future new generations of vehicles will be offered in electrically powered versions. "There are plenty of challenges, but with the right commercial vehicle orientation, a gradual further internationalization, continued profitability and the development of the right technologies for the future, can be successfully mastered", emphasizes Scholz.
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About Volkswagen Group
The Group consists of seven European countries: Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Audi, SEAT, ŠKODA, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Porsche, Ducati, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, Scania and MAN. In addition, the Volkswagen Group offers a wide range of financial services, including dealer and customer financing, leasing, banking and insurance activities, and fleet management.
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