Audi AG last week reported a drop in net profit of nearly 4%, with costs related to VW’s Dieselgate emissions scandal eating into 2015 profits. The Ingolstadt-based company said net profit fell to 4.2 billion euros last year, while operating profit dropped 6% to 4.8 billion euros, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Revenue actually increased nearly 9% to 58.4 billion euros for the company, which also owns Lamborghini and Ducati brands. Sales of Audi-brand vehicles rose 3.6% to 1.8 million units. Costs related to Dieselgate amounted to 228 million euros, but Audi said future effects on the balance sheet would not be significant.
Parent company Volkswagen is expected to shoulder most of the costs. VW has postponed publishing its 2015 earnings due to difficulties determining the full financial impact of the emissions scandal. Wolfsburg hasn’t provided a new date to publish its 2015 earnings, WSJ notes.
Audi’s costs would be to repair V6 TDI engines that power large models from Audi, Porsche and VW. The amount of cars involved are smaller, and repair costs lower, compared to VW’s four-cylinder TDI fix. The report adds that Audi expects a moderate increase in car sales this year. A separate report by Reuters quotes sales chief Dietmar Voggenreiter saying that sales in China, Audi’s largest market, slipped 1.4% in 2015 to 571,000 vehicles.
The maker of the TT and Q7 plans to invest three billion euros this year to develop EVs, autonomous cars and digital technologies. “We are in the biggest investment phase in our company’s history,” said Audi CFO Axel Strotbek, who added that while the large investment volume to develop new tech and new models could affect profit, Audi aims to achieve a pretax profit margin of between 8% and 10%.
However, Audi CEO Rupert Stadler has ruled out selling Lamborghini and Ducati to help offset costs, Reuters reports. “Those brands belong to Audi and, together with us, have an excellent future,” he said.
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