The COVID-19 crisis has had a severe impact on the German auto industry, causing massive revenue and market cap drops to companies operating in the sector. However, not all German carmakers’ stocks have performed the same in times of economic turmoil caused by the pandemic.
According to data presented by Stock Apps, the market capitalization of Daimler AG jumped by €9bn year-on-year, reaching €61.8bn in January. At the same time, the combined value of stocks of the other two major Garman carmakers, BMW and Volkswagen Group, plunged by €8bn.
Volkswagen Group Lost €6.7B in Market Cap Amid COVID-19 Crisis
As one of the largest national economy segments, Germany’s auto industry supports around 830,000 jobs and directly accounts for more than 5% of gross domestic product.
The coronavirus pandemic hit German carmakers when they were already facing a plunging global demand, costly transition to electric and self-driving cars, and pollution concerns, worsen by the Dieselgate emissions scandal.
Daimler AG is the only German carmaker whose stock price increased despite the effects of the COVID-19 crisis. In December 2019, the market capitalization of Germany’s second-largest car manufacturing group amounted to €52.8bn, revealed the Yahoo Finance data. After a sharp fall to €29.4bn in March 2020, this figure recovered to €49.2bn in September last year and continued rising. Statistics show the combined value of stocks of Daimler AG jumped by 17% year-over-year and hit €61.8bn last week.
The BMW Group lost nearly €1.3bn in market capitalization in the last year, with the figure falling from €47.1bn in December 2019 to €45.8bn last week.
Statistics show that Volkswagen Group, as the largest car manufacturing group in Germany and Europe, has taken the hardest hit amid the COVID-19 crisis. Although the company managed to reduce the effects of the coronavirus pandemic in the first half of the year, the Q3 2020 financial report revealed severe losses. Between January and September, the Group’s sales revenue plunged by $31.1bn to $155.5bn, almost a 17% drop in a year.
The COVID-19 outbreak caused an 18.7% drop in vehicle deliveries, with 6.5 million units sold in the nine months of 2020. The Yahoo Finance data also revealed the Volkswagen Group market cap plunged by 17% in 2020, falling from €87.6bn in December 2019 to €80.9bn last week.
Volkswagen Group Accounted for One-Quarter of New Car Registrations in Europe in 2020
The COVID-19 crisis triggered a sharp fall in the number of car registrations in Europe, the biggest market for German cars besides China. Although car demand in European markets started showing signs of recovery in the second half of 2020, the number of new car registrations dropped by 12% between November 2019 and 2020, revealed the European Car Manufacturers Association data.
The French, UK, and Spanish markets saw the largest fall in November sales, with 47,000, 43,000, and 17,500 units drop, respectively. Germany recorded the highest sales volume among all markets, with more than 290,000 units sold in November.
Statistics show the Volkswagen Group accounted for one-quarter of new car registrations in European markets between January and November 2020, almost double than BMW Group and Daimler AG combined. PSA Group ranked second with a 14.5% market share in this period. Renault Group and Hyundai followed, with 10.3% and 7.1% market share, respectively.
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