Profit rise

VOLKSWAGEN has announced that its profits jumped last year, despite selling fewer cars due to the semiconductor shortage as buyers forked out for betterequipped cars. The carmaker’s net profit rose 75%, to €15.4 billion (about R230bn) last year. It sold 8.6 million cars, 600 000 fewer than in 2020 and 2.4 million below 2019 levels. However, sales revenue rose 12%, in part due to “favourable pricing” and reduced costs. Last year, “customers were prepared to buy better-equipped cars” and “premium brands fared slightly better” than less expensive “volume” brands, it said.

| AFP & Reuters

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