FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Volkswagen targets pre-crisis levels in key performance indicators this year, Chief Executive Herbert Diess told German media startup ThePioneer.
“We want to get back to pre-crisis levels in 2021, or at least get close to it,” Diess said in a podcast, when asked about sales and staff numbers.
Profits are a different matter, Diess said: “The risks are high. We’re facing the semiconductor shortage. We’re not done with corona.”
Volkswagen, which will hold its annual press conference on March 16, last month said sales fell 11.8% to 222.9 billion euros ($266.7 billion) in 2020, expecting them to rise significantly this year without being more specific.
The operating margin in 2021 is seen at the upper end of Volkswagen’s 5.0-6.5% target range, up from 4.3% last year, Volkswagen said at the time.
Asked about Volkswagen’s Power Day, scheduled for March 16, Diess said that the group would outline its battery strategy at the event.
“Today we are invested in a few startups. We are a large investor in Quantumscape. And on Monday we will explain why all of this makes a lot of sense and why it is making us very competitive.”
($1 = 0.8358 euros)
(Reporting by Christoph Steitz)
