Volkswagen has problems around the world, spurring it to announce on Thursday that it would slash the number of models it offers by as much as half, but many of its troubles can be traced to China. The German auto giant, the world’s second-largest carmaker after Toyota, led the pack in China, the world’s largest car market, for four decades. For many years, the company’s joint ventures and factories in China provided half or more of the company’s worldwide profits, which helped Volkswagen afford high salaries and generous benefits for…
Tag: Company Reports
Nvidia’s Profit Hits $58.3 Billion as A.I. Boom Gathers More Steam
Another huge quarterly profit announced by the chip maker Nvidia on Wednesday provided solid evidence that Silicon Valley’s artificial intelligence spending spree is still gathering steam. Nvidia said profit in its most recent quarter was $58.3 billion, up 211 percent from a year earlier and topping expectations by financial analysts. Just three years ago, the Silicon Valley company’s quarterly profit was $2 billion — about one-thirtieth of what it is today. Nvidia’s chips are an essential part of big A.I. projects, and other tech companies have been lining up to…
Tesla’s Price Cuts Lowered Its Profit
Tesla’s profit slumped in the third quarter after the carmaker cut prices to maintain its dominance of the market for electric vehicles. The company reported a net profit of $1.9 billion from July through September. That compared with $2.7 billion in the second quarter and $3.3 billion a year earlier. The company has slashed prices by around 25 percent in the United States during the last year, putting the priority on sales rather than profit. The least expensive version of Tesla’s best selling car, the Model Y sport utility vehicle,…
Tesla Sales Slip as It Readies Factories for New Models
Sales of Tesla electric cars slipped from July through September after the company paused production at some factories to upgrade assembly lines. The company delivered 435,000 vehicles worldwide in the third quarter, down from 466,000 in the second quarter. Wall Street analysts had expected the decline, which they attributed to production slowdowns as Tesla refitted factories in the United States and China. Still, the dip in sales may renew concerns that demand for Tesla cars is slackening even after the company cut prices. In China, Tesla is trying to fend…
China’s Biggest Homebuilder Fights to Survive as Economic Crisis Deepens
When Country Garden, the biggest developer in China’s increasingly troubled real estate sector, published its annual report in April, the cover design exuded hope: a phoenix spreading its wings. The company said the image showed that China’s economy was “back on track” and that this year would see “growth soaring to new heights.” That was wishful thinking. Shortly after the report’s release, China’s nascent economic recovery lost steam and an already sluggish real estate market started to collapse. At Country Garden, presales of unfinished apartments, a crucial indicator of future…
Volkswagen Seeks to Regain Edge in China as It Cuts Delivery Forecast
The Numbers Volkswagen said its after-tax earnings fell by 20 percent in the first half of the year, to 8.5 billion euros, or $9.45 billion, compared with the same period last year. But overall revenue increased 18.2 percent as the company stemmed some of its losses in China, where deliveries were down 1.2 percent. Western Europe provided the company with its strongest business, with 1.65 million vehicles ordered in the first half of the year, and 200,000 of them — or 12 percent — were electric vehicles, the company said.…
Tesla’s Profit Rose in the Second Quarter as Price Cuts Spurred Demand
Tesla reported a rise in profit for the second quarter after the company led by Elon Musk cut prices in response to increased competition and higher borrowing costs for car buyers. The company said on Wednesday that it earned $2.7 billion from April through June, compared with $2.5 billion in the first quarter of this year and $2.3 billion in the second quarter of 2022. Sales rose 7 percent, to $25 billion, from last quarter. Lower average sales prices, as well as the cost to produce a new pickup truck,…
Tesla’s Second Quarter Sales and Deliveries Rise as Tax Credits Fuel Demand
Tesla sales rose a better-than-expected 10 percent in the second quarter as the company led by Elon Musk benefited from government incentives and price cuts that made its electric cars less expensive than comparable gasoline models. Tesla delivered 466,000 vehicles from April through June, up from 423,000 vehicles in the previous quarter, the company said on Sunday. Compared with a year earlier, sales in the second quarter rose 83 percent as the company expanded production at new factories in Austin, Texas, and near Berlin. The sales figures exceeded estimates by…
Tesla Sales Surge as Tax Credits Fuel Demand
Tesla sales rose 10 percent in the second quarter as the company led by Elon Musk benefited from government incentives and price cuts that made its electric cars less expensive than comparable gasoline models. Tesla delivered 466,000 vehicles from April through June, up from 423,000 vehicles in the previous quarter, the company said on Sunday. Compared with a year earlier, sales in the second quarter rose 83 percent as the company expanded production at new factories in Austin, Texas, and near Berlin. Rules that took effect this year allowed buyers…
Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent Signal First Steps in Bumpy Recovery
Eight months ago, the future of China’s largest internet companies looked grim. Covid-era lockdowns crushed sales and Beijing’s harsh tech regulations had spooked even audacious China investors. Shares of Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent dropped to some of their lowest levels in several years. With China’s economy now reopen, the tech giants this week released earnings reports that showed initial signs of recovery. But the financial results, the first issued since the end of “zero Covid” restrictions, also reflected the uneven pace of China’s economic rebound and signaled that the companies’ makeovers, while underway, are likely…