Audi quarterly profit collapses

The Ingolstadt-based car manufacturer Audi is hoping for a business revival at the end of the year after the profit slump in the first nine months. “We expect a significantly stronger fourth quarter,” said CFO Jürgen Rittersberger to journalists on Friday. His company is expecting impetus, among other things, from the new SUV models Q7 and Q9 on the US market.

In the third quarter, however, things were significantly worse than in the previous year, especially in China. The combustion engine business in particular has deteriorated there, said Rittersberger. Audi therefore cut its forecast for the full year again and now only expects a return on sales of between three and five percent with revenues of between 55 and 59 billion euros. In July, the people of Ingolstadt expected a return of between five and seven percent and revenues of between 58 and 63 billion euros.

In the first nine months, sales fell by a good six billion euros to 42 billion euros. Operating profit fell to 1.15 billion euros from 1.56 billion euros a year ago, and the return fell by half a percentage point to 2.7 percent. “The key figures clearly show that the need for action at Audi is great and cannot be postponed,” said Rittersberger.

The people of Ingolstadt are currently suffering from the drastic decline in demand in China and from US President Donald Trump's tariffs. Rittersberger emphasized that his company has significantly greater ambitions for the USA. "The USA is the second largest premium car market in the world, and we are not fully exploiting this potential at the moment."

He emphasized that the construction of the facility in the US state of Georgia was not a decision against Germany. Trump announced the work on Saturday at a campaign event in Georgia, Audi boss Gernot Döllner was on stage with him and has been subjected to heavy criticism ever since.