Volkswagen Faces an Even Bumpier Road to EVs Than Detroit -- Heard on the Street
Volkswagen Faces an Even Bumpier Road to EVs Than Detroit -- Heard on the Street
By Stephen Wilmot
斯蒂芬·威爾莫特(Stephen Wilmot)著
Volkswagen has a way of making investors feel every jolt on its path to electric vehicles.
大眾汽車(Volkswagen)有辦法讓投資者感受到其電動汽車道路上的每一次震動。
The German automotive giant reported third-quarter profits Thursday that included losses for what it calls its "volume" brands, notably the VW badge itself. Like General Motors, it was more affected by chip shortages during the latest quarter than in the first half, but unlike GM and other big peers, it doesn't have high enough margins or flexible enough costs to cope well with a drop-off in car production.
這家德國汽車巨頭週四公佈了第三季度利潤，其中包括其所謂的“批量”品牌的虧損，特別是大眾徽章本身。與通用汽車(General Motors)一樣，該公司在最近一個季度受到芯片短缺的影響比上半年更大，但與通用汽車和其他大型同行不同的是，它的利潤率不夠高，成本也不夠靈活，無法很好地應對汽車產量的下降。
The numbers were better including more-profitable premium brands such as Audi and Porsche, and particularly the financing business, which like its U.S. peers has benefited massively from skyrocketing used-car valuations. But the weakness of the core automotive business still disappointed investors. The "ordinary" shares tracked by the more widely traded American depositary receipt, ticker symbol VWAGY, fell more than 4% in morning trading, while the "preferred" shares favored by institutional investors were down roughly 3%.
這些數字更好，包括奧迪(Audi)和保時捷(Porsche)等利潤更高的高端品牌，特別是融資業務，與美國同行一樣，融資業務也從飆升的二手車估值中受益匪淺。但核心汽車業務的疲軟仍令投資者失望。在早盤交易中，交易範圍更廣的美國存託憑證(股票代碼為VWAGY)追蹤的“普通”股票下跌逾4%，而機構投資者青睞的“優先”股票下跌約3%.
The relative profitability of the group's various brands last quarter should be taken with a grain of salt. Like other car makers, the company has been giving the limited microchips it can get to higher-margin products. The fact that all its volume brands were badly hit, including the formerly healthy Czech subsidiary koda, suggests that semiconductor allocations may have played a big role.
對於該集團各品牌上個季度的相對盈利能力，我們應該持保留態度。與其他汽車製造商一樣，該公司一直在向利潤率更高的產品提供有限的微芯片。該公司所有的批量品牌都受到了嚴重打擊，包括以前健康的捷克子公司科達(Koda)，這一事實表明，半導體配置可能起到了重要作用。
Chief Executive Herbert Diess also has an incentive to exaggerate the poor performance of the core VW brand, which is a stronghold for the company's powerful labor union, to strengthen his case for restructuring. Mr. Diess has won plaudits for his big investments in EVs, but the more awkward flip side of this coin is the need to shrink old engine-related infrastructure. Reducing head count is far more difficult for the German company than its peers because of a government equity stake and voting rights. Skirmishes between Mr. Diess and VW's new union boss, Daniela Cavallo, were a noisy feature of the German press this week.
執行長赫伯特·戴斯(Herbert Diess)也有動機誇大大眾核心品牌的糟糕表現，以加強他的重組理由。大眾核心品牌是該公司強大工會的大本營。戴斯在電動汽車上的大筆投資贏得了讚譽，但這枚硬幣的另一面更令人尷尬的是，他需要縮小與發動機相關的舊基礎設施。由於政府持股和投票權，這家德國公司削減員工人數比同行困難得多。戴斯和大眾新任工會主席丹尼拉·卡瓦洛(Daniela Cavallo)之間的小規模衝突是德國媒體本週熱議的一個特寫。
Sentiment toward VW's chances of dominating EVs in the way it does combustion engines has ebbed and flowed in recent years. Hopes seem to be muted right now, which suggests it might be a good time to buy in. Investors just need to remember that the company faces even more obstacles to success than the likes of GM and Ford. It won't be a smooth ride.
近幾年來，人們對大眾有可能像內燃機那樣統治電動汽車的情緒起伏不定。眼下希望似乎很渺茫，這表明現在可能是買入的好時機。投資者只需要記住，與通用汽車和福特汽車等公司相比，該公司在成功方面面臨的障礙甚至更多。這不會是一帆風順的。
Write to Stephen Wilmot at stephen.wilmot@wsj.com
寫信給斯蒂芬·威爾莫特(Stephen Wilmot)，電子郵件：stehen.wilmot@wsj.com
譯文內容由第三人軟體翻譯。