Audi earnings took a substantial hit in a "very challenging" 2024, and company bosses say that this year "will not be any easier".
The Volkswagen Group's Progressive brand family, led by Audi, delivered 1.7 million vehicles in 2024, down 12% on 2023, contributing to a 7.6% dip in overall revenues to €64.5 billion.
Meanwhile, operating profit margin dipped from 9.1% to 6.0% - compared with 8.1% at Mercedes-Benz and 7.7% at the BMW Group over the same period, for context.
Revealing the company's performance at a press conference in Ingolstadt, Audi CEO Gernot Döllner said "2024 was definitely a year of transition" and "exactly what we forecasted has actually happened".
Citing issues including supply bottlenecks, global political tensions and increased Chinese competition as inhibitive factors, he pointed to 2024's performance as a motivation to "make Audi future-proof again", with a wide-reaching overhaul of the company's product line-up, production network and overall organisation.
"Global economic changes and intensified international competition are posing major challenges to Audi and the industry as a whole," Döllner said. "We are facing this reality with the courage to break new ground and with confidence in our traditional strengths."
The plan to put Audi back on a growth trajectory began in 2024 with the appointment of new high-ranking officials (including CTO Geoffrey Bouquot and design boss Massimo Frascella), the launch of important new model lines and various operational changes.
Most significant among these is the announcement that Audi will axe 7500 jobs in Germany by the end of 2029 as part of a drive to cut operational costs by more than €1bn annually.
That news followed shortly after the closure of the company's factory in Brussels, Belgium, where it built the Q8 E-tron electric SUV, with restructuring expenses related to this closure also impacting profits.
Döllner said Audi will "remain committed to our path for renewal" in 2025, with a particular focus on adding new models, cementing its foothold in the US and China and improving efficiency across the entire organisation.
But CFO Jürgen Rittersberger offered a cautious outlook for 2025, saying this year "will not be any easier - quite the contrary".
"The economic environment has deteriorated, and in particular the German economy has performed weakly and is in a sustained recession," he said, adding that electric vehicle uptake is being dampened by a "certain consumer reluctance", which is slowing Audi's push to completely electrify its line-up.
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