The shortage of microchips and semiconductors does not leave car manufacturers around the world alone. Whoever closed the first half with positive figures does not mean that he avoided the impact of this crisis: according to many insiders, the second half of 2021 will really reflect what its effects will be, clearly with a negative meaning. Of this thought is Markus Duesmann, the CEO of Audi, who reiterated how the car manufacturer with the four rings must continue to fight against this crisis day by day, to get out as unscathed as possible.
“We had a very strong first half of the year, but we expect a much more complicated second half for us. We really have problems “, his words reported by Reuters. Audi’s number one described this situation as a “perfect storm“. But if this crisis has impacted not a little on the production activities of car manufacturers all over the world, the same cannot be said in a total way of earnings: thanks also to a weighted increase in prices, Audi has managed, for example, to close the first half of this 2021 with a profit margin of 10.7%, a percentage even higher than the 8% that had been recorded in the same period of 2019, so before the Coronavirus pandemic took over.
“We are dealing with these problems quite well – added Duesmann, who in addition to being CEO of Audi is also part of the board of directors of the Volkswagen Group – We are trying to tighten closer links with microchip manufacturers, which will allow us to emerge from this crisis even stronger. However, this is a medium-long term vision: now it is a question of solving the problem on a daily basis ”. In addition to the microchip issue, Duesmann also spoke about the electric offensive that is sweeping the sector, explaining how the profitability of electric cars will soon reach that of thermal cars: “The moment in which the sale of electric cars will earn as much as that of internal combustion cars will come in 2022, or at the latest in 2023. Prices are already very uniform today”.