Škoda Auto produced 753,013 cars in its Czech plants last year, 17 percent less than in 2019. The reason was the interruption of production for 39 days and measures against coronavirus. The carmaker announced this in a press release.
At the main plant in Mladá Boleslav, the company produced 480,000 cars from the Fabia, Scala, Octavia, Kamiq, Karoq, and Enyaq iV model lines. It was number one with the production of 187,000 Octavia cars. A total of 270,000 Superb, Kodiaq, Karoq, and Seat Ateca cars rolled off the assembly line in Kvasiny.
“Our main production plant in Mladá Boleslav produced the Enyaq iV exactly as planned. On this assembly line, we simultaneously make vehicles based on modular electrified platforms (MEBs) and modular platforms with a transversely mounted motor (MQB). This concept is VW unique, “said Michael Oeljeklaus, a member of the Škoda Production Board.
In addition to finished cars, last year, the carmaker produced 411,000 engines, 383,000 manual transmissions of the MQ200 and MQ100 types, 76,000 high-voltage traction batteries, and 151,1000 axles in the Czech Republic.
The carmaker invested 32 million euros in producing the new Enyaq iV model, which began at the end of November. On the assembly line, it makes 250 to 350 of these purely electric SUVs per day. The company has invested approximately 29 million euros in a new machining line for ultra-fine surface treatment of new EVO EA211 three-cylinder plasma engine blocks.
In Kvasiny in June, the company deployed a robot that takes starter batteries from pallets and delivers them to the production line in just-in-sequence mode. The plant also tests automated forklifts.
At the component factory in Vrchlabí, Škoda produced 470,000 DQ200 automatic direct-shift gearboxes, which are also available in models from other Volkswagen Group brands. Vrchlabí is the first Škoda production plant in the world to produce components with a neutral carbon balance.
Due to the pandemic last year, the carmaker delivered only 1.005 million cars to customers worldwide, 19.1 percent less year-on-year.
VW expected an operating profit of around ten billion euros last year.
The German automotive group Volkswagen expects to report an operating profit without extraordinary items of around ten billion euros last year, despite the adverse effects of the spread of coronavirus. Although operating profit should fall by almost half from 19.3 billion euros in 2019, it will exceed analysts’ expectations. Volkswagen is the largest car manufacturer in the world and also includes Škoda Auto.
Shares of Volkswagen erased their initial losses today and climbed to an 11-month high after the release of a preliminary results report.
The automotive industry around the world was hit hard last year by the covid-19 pandemic, which impacted production activities and demand. Last week, Volkswagen said it delivered 9.3 million cars to customers last year, 15 percent less than the previous year. In the fourth quarter alone, however, the year-on-year decline was less than six percent.
“Volkswagen’s deliveries to customers continued to recover strongly in the fourth quarter, surpassing deliveries from the third quarter. Therefore, sales also increased significantly,” the company said in today’s report. Volkswagen shares gained about three percent in the afternoon.
The final financial indicators for last year will be published by Volkswagen and the outlook for future developments at the end of February. The group will provide further details at the annual press conference in mid-March.
Volkswagen did not provide data on full-year sales and net profit in today’s report. In 2019, the group reported a net profit of 13.3 billion euros with sales of 252.6 billion euros, the DPA agency recalled.