Strong vehicle sales at Kögel

Quarterly figures published

Martin Schrüfer, 25.05.2021, 10:00

Strong vehicle sales at Kögel

Kögel's order intake in the first quarter of 2021 is more than twice as high as in the same period in 2019. Managing Director Thomas Heckel wants to use the strong tailwind to invest in the optimization of SKD production at the Burtenbach site, among other things.

Kögel is starting 2021 with a strong tailwind, as the figures for the first quarter show. Incoming orders from January to March amounted to 6,978 vehicles. In the same period last year, Kögel sold 2,949 units (+137 percent). Sales slumped across the industry last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The economic development of the past year is therefore atypical and can only serve as a benchmark to a limited extent. Compared to the first quarter of 2019, Kögel recorded an increase in incoming orders of 110% (3,325 units). The recovery began in the fourth quarter of last year. During this period, incoming orders totaled 3,370 vehicles.

Demand was particularly strong in Eastern Europe (4,088 units) in the first quarter of 2021, ahead of Western Europe (2,890 units). The strongest sales regions and individual markets are Austria, Russia/Ukraine, followed by the Benelux countries, the Baltic states/Poland, Germany and Italy.

"Our prospects are excellent. Customers have a lot of catching up to do. Kögel is starting 2021 with a strong tailwind," explains Thomas Heckel, Kögel's Managing Director responsible for Finance, at the start of the company's first virtual press conference on May 12. Kögel aims to sell a total of 19,500 units in 2021. "There is no sign of demand slowing down. We are well on the way to achieving our sales target," Heckel announces. Supply difficulties with individual supplier products such as semiconductors, which are currently affecting the entire automotive industry, may prove to be a hindrance. These are mainly still consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, during which production capacities were reduced. The blockade of the Suez Canal is also still having an impact.

Heckel emphasizes: "However, we are very confident that we will benefit from the positive economic situation and are planning investments in the millions at the Burtenbach site." Heckel cites the expansion of SKD production and the dispatch center, where trailer kits are manufactured and packaged for markets throughout Europe, as well as the expansion and modernization of the administration building as examples.

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