On March 17, the results of fiscal year 2021 released by Audi group showed that its sales revenue was about 53 billion euros, a year-on-year increase of 6.2%; Operating profit of 5.498 billion euros; The operating profit margin was 10.5% in fy2020, higher than that of 1.5% in fy2020; Net cash flow was € 7.757 billion, a year-on-year increase of nearly 70%.
As for the Chinese market, Audi's sales revenue in China in 2021 was 1.14 billion euros, which was higher than that of 1009 million euros in fiscal year 2020, but only 2% compared with the global sales revenue of 53 billion euros. Official data show that in 2021, the Audi brand achieved cumulative sales of about 701300 vehicles in its largest single market, China, a year-on-year decrease of 3.6%.
The reason is that in the ownership structure of FAW Volkswagen Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as FAW Volkswagen), China FAW Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as FAW Volkswagen) holds 60%, Germany Volkswagen Co., Ltd. holds 20%, Germany Audi Automobile Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Audi) and Volkswagen (China) Investment Co., Ltd. hold 10% respectively.
The 10% share ratio means that Audi group can only get 10% dividends from the performance of FAW Volkswagen every year. In contrast, the contribution of Audi brand to China FAW can not be ignored. The data show that in 2021, FAW sold 3.5 million vehicles in the whole year, and the sales of Audi brand accounted for nearly 20%.
In fact, as a "profit cow", Audi was dissatisfied with "sharing profits by shares", and began to seek to change its shareholding ratio in the joint venture many years ago, and repeatedly stated that it wanted to improve its shareholding ratio in FAW Volkswagen. In 2014, the two sides negotiated and agreed that the shareholding ratio of China FAW was reduced from 60% to 51%, and that of Audi was increased from 10% to 19%. Subsequently, with the outbreak of Volkswagen's "emission gate" event in 2015, the stock ratio adjustment was stranded.
However, Audi has been trying to pursue greater profits in the Chinese market for many years. In November 2016, Saic Motor Corporation Limited(600104) confirmed to cooperate with Audi, but since then, the project was opposed by FAW Volkswagen Audi dealers and failed to reach a consensus on establishing the same sales network, which finally took four years to implement.
In December 2020, Saic Motor Corporation Limited(600104) , Audi and FAW China reached a consensus and announced that in the future, SAIC Audi products will layout sales and service related businesses through the existing FAW Volkswagen Audi investor network. At present, the first model a7l of SAIC Audi has been delivered.
Since 2021, Audi has been striving for more voice in its cooperation with China's FAW since it failed to improve its share ratio in FAW Volkswagen. On January 18, 2021, FAW China signed an agreement with Audi and Changchun Municipal People's government, and the Audi FAW new energy joint venture project was settled in Changchun. Subsequently, Audi FAW New Energy Vehicle Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Audi FAW) was established, in which Audi held 55% of the shares, China FAW held 40% and Volkswagen (China) Investment Co., Ltd. held 5%.
Then, on February 10, 2021, the Audi brand announced that the FAW Volkswagen Audi sales division was upgraded to FAW Audi sales Co., Ltd., which will be located in Hangzhou and be responsible for the relevant business of FAW Volkswagen Audi domestic models, Audi imported models and Audi domestic PPE models to be launched in 2024. In fact, as early as March 2018, Audi and FAW China signed a memorandum of understanding on the establishment of "FAW Audi sales Co., Ltd." and was originally scheduled to complete the follow-up work before the end of September of the same year.
According to the information disclosed by Audi at the annual press conference of fiscal year 2021 on March 17, Audi plans to provide more than ten pure electric models in the Chinese market by 2026, and Audi FAW is the main carrier of its electrification in China.
In February this year, the Audi FAW new energy joint venture project has been filed and publicized by the industry department of Jilin Provincial Development and Reform Commission. The total investment of the project is 20.93 billion yuan. It is planned to start in April 2022 and be completed in December 2024. Three pure electric models B + SUV e-tron, B + sav e-tron and C Lim LWB e-tron will be put into operation, with a total plant capacity of 150000 vehicles / year.
At present, in the Chinese market, Audi holds 10%, 55% and 1% of shares in FAW Volkswagen, Audi FAW and SAIC Volkswagen respectively. It is believed that with the successive completion of the layout of Audi's three joint ventures in the Chinese market, it has also closed the possibility of changing the share ratio between Audi and China's FAW Volkswagen.
Facing fiscal year 2022, Audi group is expected to deliver 1.8-1.9 million vehicles; The sales revenue is expected to be 62 billion ~ 65 billion euros; The profit margin of operation and sales is expected to be 9% ~ 11%; Net cash flow is expected to be between € 4.5 billion and € 5.5 billion.
In addition, in terms of electrification, Audi plans to turn all new models released to the global market into pure electric models from 2026, and plans to provide more than 20 pure electric models. On March 17, the Audi A6 avant e-tron concept car based on PPE electrification platform made its debut. It is reported that from 2023, the first batch of Audi mass production vehicles based on PPE platform will appear one after another.
Next, Audi will strengthen brand cooperation within the group and take Bentley brand into account for the first time in 2022. In 2020, Volkswagen Group announced that it would attribute its Bentley brand to Audi. Audi said: "within the Audi group, Audi brand, Bentley brand, Ducati brand and Lamborghini brand will realize closer cooperation in the future. For example, all parties will jointly formulate joint plans for electric travel and digital technology."
