The decline in sales and the rise in revenue and profit have become a portrayal of the BBA in the German luxury car camp in the first quarter.

　　According to the first-quarter performance reports released by Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi, the main financial data such as operating income and profit of the three BBA companies in the first quarter of this year became popular across the board; among them, BMW Brilliance consolidated the BMW Group to boost the BMW Group's revenue in the first quarter. And profit, Bentley's consolidation and hedging of raw materials such as nickel and aluminum were the main drivers of Audi's sharp increase in profit in the first quarter, while Mercedes-Benz's performance benefited from pricing power.

　　Behind the double growth of revenue and profit, in the first quarter of this year, due to the continuous bottleneck of semiconductor supply, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and the production blockage caused by the epidemic, the sales of the three BBA companies declined year-on-year.

　　From the perspective of the industry, luxury brands will continue to offset possible risks through net pricing; for the overall forecast for the year, although raw materials and other risks are expected to continue into the second half of the year, the three BBAs are relatively optimistic and optimistic that sales will not appear. dramatically drop.

　　Affected by the drop in China's luxury car market, sales generally fell

　　In the first quarter of this year, the BMW Group's global sales volume was 596,900 units, down 6.2% year-on-year; the Mercedes-Benz car division sold approximately 487,000 units in the first quarter, down 10% year-on-year; Audi's global new car sales totaled 385,100 units, down 16.8% year-on-year .

From the perspective of the factors of the decline in sales, BMW Group believes that the main reason for the decline is due to factors such as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the recurrence of the new crown epidemic; Mercedes-Benz said that despite strong demand, due to semiconductor supply bottlenecks, the spread of the new crown epidemic and the situation in Russia and Ukraine Upgrades have had a certain impact on sales; Audi China said, "Changes in the global situation and the epidemic in China have indeed affected the group's sales figures."

　　In the Chinese market, in the first quarter of this year, BMW Group's sales volume was 208,507 units, down 9.2% year-on-year; Mercedes-Benz delivered a total of 192,000 new vehicles, down 13% year-on-year; Audi's cumulative sales in the Chinese market including Hong Kong in the first quarter were 161,621 vehicles, down 22.1%.

　　Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the National Passenger Car Information Association, believes that "the high-end redemption demand for consumption upgrades is still strong, and the demand for luxury cars is still strong. At present, due to factors such as chip shortages, there has not been sufficient competition."

　　In terms of new energy vehicles, the electrification layout of the three BBA companies in the Chinese market is also accelerating.

BMW Group said that the sales of pure electric vehicles in the Chinese market increased by 3 times year-on-year, and this year will provide 5 pure electric vehicles in the Chinese market; Mercedes-Benz has not announced the specific sales data of its electric vehicles in the Chinese market, but according to its plan this year It will launch 8 new energy products to the Chinese market one after another; Audi plans to provide more than 10 pure electric models in the Chinese market by 2026; it is foreseeable that in the next stage of competition, electrification will become the focus of luxury brands.

　　Revenue and profit doubled thanks to pricing power, hedging and consolidation

　　Although the sales volume of the three BBA companies declined year-on-year in the first quarter, the revenue and net profit of the three companies achieved substantial year-on-year growth.

　　In the first quarter of this year, BMW Group’s revenue was 31.142 billion euros, a year-on-year increase of 16.3%; pre-tax profit was 12.227 billion euros, a year-on-year increase of 12.1%; net profit was 10.185 billion euros, compared with 2.833 billion euros in the same period last year; Revenue rose 17.4% year-on-year to 26.726 billion euros; EBIT margin was 8.9%, higher than analysts' expectations of 7.8%.

BMW Group said, "The full integration of BMW Group's joint ventures in China boosted the group's revenue and profit in the first quarter." In addition, BMW Group said that revenue growth also benefited from strategies such as active pricing.

　　In February of this year, BMW Group's shareholding in BMW Brilliance, a joint venture company in China, was changed to 75%. At the same time, BMW Brilliance's financial statements will be fully consolidated into BMW Group from this year.

According to the BMW Group’s first quarterly report, BMW Brilliance has contributed 3.287 billion euros in revenue to BMW Group since mid-February; at this year’s financial report, Nicolas Peter, the financial director of BMW Group, said that the consolidation of BMW Brilliance will bring 70% to the group. A one-time positive impact of EUR 100 million to EUR 8 billion.

　　Also benefiting from the impact of consolidation is Audi.

In the first quarter of this year, the Bentley brand, which was incorporated into the Audi Group, had sales of 813 million euros and an operating profit of 170 million euros, with an operating profit margin of 20.9 percent.

In addition, Audi also stated in the first quarter report that the strong price strategy and the valuation effect of raw material hedging (especially nickel and aluminum) brought Audi a profit of 1.2 billion euros.

　　Overall, in the first quarter of this year, Audi’s revenue was 14.282 billion euros, a year-on-year increase of 1.52%; operating profit was 3.468 billion euros, a year-on-year increase of 147%, a record high; the return on sales was 24.3%, compared with 10% in the same period last year.

　　As for Mercedes-Benz, Mercedes-Benz also mentioned in its first-quarter report that in this challenging environment, maintaining business flexibility and pricing power is critical.

"Strong earnings despite a number of headwinds through a focus on luxury and electric vehicles, as well as continued cost control," said Harald Wilhelm, Mercedes-Benz Group Chief Financial Officer.

　　Specifically, in the first quarter of this year, Mercedes-Benz's operating income was 34.858 billion euros, an increase of 6% year-on-year; the Mercedes-Benz car division's revenue in the first quarter was 25.836 billion euros, accounting for 74.11% of the total revenue, an increase of 8% year-on-year; EBIT was 42.71 billion euros, an increase of 13% year-on-year; adjusted return on sales was 16.4%, an increase of 1.7 percentage points year-on-year.

　　For the next development of this year, the three BBAs have the same view. They believe that the shortage of semiconductors will continue this year, and there are also uncertainties in factors such as raw materials. It is particularly important to maintain pricing power.

　　Regarding full-year expectations, at the annual performance meeting, Chairman of BMW Group Zipse said that sales in 2022 are expected to be the same as in 2021, and there will be no significant decline. It is expected that the EBIT margin of its automotive business this year will be dropped to between 7% and 9%.

Mercedes-Benz expects sales in the auto division to grow slightly this year, with luxury car sales expected to grow by more than 10% year-on-year, and an adjusted return on sales is expected to be between 11.5% and 13%.

Audi expects to sell 1.8 million to 1.9 million vehicles this year, with an estimated revenue of 62 billion to 65 billion euros, and an operating profit margin of 9% to 11%.

　　Beijing News Shell Finance reporter Wang Linlin