Quarterly results bring surprises in the auto industry - week 43 2019 edition
Quarterly reports released, cost cutting measures announced. Railway transport between Eastern Europe and China reaches new milestone. Let’s recap what last week brought in the region´s automotive sector.
Daimler exceeded all expectations with their third quarter revenues and operating result. Revenues surpassed projections by €140 million after reaching a total of €43.27 billion.
Audi is targeting a €15 billion cost reduction programme by 2022 due to declining operating results and a bid to conform to changing market demand. The cost cutting measures will chiefly affect the car maker’s Germany-based locations.
Although Continental’s quarterly report for Q3 confirmed business prospects projected earlier for this year, the company has decided to postpone the IPO of the company’s Powertrain business, recently renamed to Vitesco.
In September, the number of job seekers in Hungary decreased by 3.1 percent from the same period last year to 243,000.
Financial chiefs worldwide agree that the economic growth has slowed down, but continue to hope for a slight increase next year should commercial and geopolitical tensions not worsen any further.
METRANS has launched its inaugural freight train from Csepel, Budapest, to Xi’an, China.
A new railway station is currently under construction in Debrecen, where several railway lines are also being renewed, expanded and modernized. The developments are linked to BMW’s giant investment project in the area.
Cluj-Napoca will be the first town in Romania to introduce autonomous buses in public transport. The local government has launched a pilot project to support the initiative.
Buzz, Ryanair’s Polish subsidiary is taking over the operation of the Irish budget airline’s Budapest headquarters.
Vienna Airport is installing 2,500 photovoltaic cells. The project is expected to reach completion at the end of 2020. Europe has managed to reach 50 percent of its earlier commitment, and now boasts 50 carbon-free airports continent-wide.
The Hungarian tyre market has come to a halt and even witnessed a decline in sales in certain categories. The setback experienced Europe-wide calls for caution among industry players.
European OEMs must allocate spending on service development. 90 percent of transport accidents are a result of human error, which could be reduced drastically with autonomous systems, Nevijo Mance, director of engineering at Jaguar Land Rover Hungary, said at a conference entitled Artificial Intelligence and the Automotive Industry and held at Automotive Hungary in the organization of Pannon Business Network Association and am-LAB Digital Innovation Hub (PBN).
