May 5, 2024 – 10:59 pm
Audi A8 L 60 TFSI quattro with V8 engine and drivetrain details – Image: Audi
Audi's operating profits declined by about 74 percent in the first quarter of this year, because the company was able to produce a much smaller number of luxury cars with six- and eight-cylinder engines compared to the same period last year. He writes for the European automotive news portal.
According to the article, there is a supplier issue in the background, but the Volkswagen Group brand did not want to officially name the component without which they cannot assemble these engines. Last year, Audi achieved operating profits of 1.82 billion euros during the first three months, much higher than this year's level of 466 million euros. All this is in line with the company's announcement last Friday, according to which revenues in the first three months of the year fell by 19 percent to 13.72 billion euros from 16.88 billion a year earlier.
The missing part is a special drive belt used for the engine's starter generator, which Audi acquired from Vitesco, a subsidiary of Continental, and has used this solution in some of its models since 2018, Automotive News wrote, referring to a January Manger report. .
Audi is currently looking for a second supplier to solve the spare parts problem, but according to Automobilwoche, models with six- and eight-cylinder engines will become available again in 2018. Germany since mid-March.
