The starting conditions were not ideal in the Corona crisis. The new auto giant Stellantis has nevertheless made significant cost savings and presented good first half-year figures.
Opel parent company Stellantis has raised its return forecast after strong growth in sales and profits in the first half of the year.
Adjusted operating profit rose in the first six months to 8.6 billion euros after 752 million euros in the same period last year, which was affected by the Corona crisis with production interruptions, as the world’s fourth largest car company announced on Tuesday.
Stellantis was created in January from the merger of the French Peugeot manufacturer PSA and Fiat Chrysler (FCA). The figures are therefore calculated «pro forma». Sales rose accordingly in the first half of the year by 46 percent to 75.3 billion euros. The bottom line was a profit of 5.9 billion euros.
For the current year, the group raised its expected operating return to around ten percent. In the first half of the year, an adjusted operating margin of 11.4 percent was achieved, based in particular on profitable business in the USA with a margin of 16.1 percent there.
Stellantis has 14 car brands from Europe and the USA such as Opel, Peugeot, Citroën, Jeep, Maserati and Alfa Romeo. The new auto giant is also competing with VW and Toyota. As CEO Carlos Tavares emphasized, the new company not only achieved a remarkable result in the first half of the year, but also made strategic progress in the targeted electrification of the vehicle range and digitalization.
For the next 24 months, the company announced the introduction of a further eleven battery-electric models and ten new plug-in hybrid vehicle types. Delivery vans powered by hydrogen fuel cells should also come onto the market by the end of the current year.
Stellantis ties its increased return prospects to the requirement that the semiconductor crisis in the automotive industry does not worsen and that there are no major corona lockdowns in Europe and the USA again. The company revised up the expected return growth in the US, while the growth prospects in the other regions remained stable.
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
