It’s crazy season as motor manufacturers show the strongest signs yet of a global economic recovery. BMW, General Motors, Renault, Volkswagen, Chrysler and Ford are among those who’ve reported very healthy profits over the first quarter (Q1) of 2011.
IN4RIDE has already covered the Chrysler and VW situations so we’ll briefly chat about the others, starting with The General. Since coming out of a painful bankruptcy that almost killed the company, GM has gone from strength to strength. Why, in Q1 it posted a net profit of US$3.2 billion (R21.6 billion), its 5th consecutive quarterly profit. That’s much more than the US$865 million (R5.8 billion) it made in Q1 of 2010.
BMW Group, the world’s biggest maker of premium cars, reported a net profit of €1.2 billion (R11.8 billion) on the back of sales of 382 758 units of BMW brand, MINI and Rolls-Royce cars. The hot sellers were the 5 Series, 7 Series, X1 and new X3. A target of 1.5 million sales is targeted for 2011.
Ford had its best quarter in 13 years as it reported profits of US$2.6 billion (R17.5 billion) from revenues of US$33.1 billion (R223 billion).
In China Mercedes-Benz did roaring business, pulling out an 82% increase in sales in that country. This helped the company to a net income of €1.18 billion (R11.6 billion) from revenues of €24.7 billion (R243 billion), buoyed by strong sales of the C-Class, the E-Class and the ML-Class.
Lastly we have Renault with a bit of a bag of mixed results. On the one hand revenues were €10.4 billion (R102 billion), up 15% from 2010 figures. On the other hand sales in the Africa-Asia region fell 2.3%. Renault did not reveal how much profit was made from revenues.
Can they reduce their prices now please.
ReplyDeletegee these guys how can they make so much money when pple r poor?
ReplyDeleteCars are still expensive even with the recession over
ReplyDeleteToo much moolah here
ReplyDeletewhy don't Saab make sure they learn from Vw?
ReplyDelete