Vitesco records major earnings from electrification

Vitesco Technologies has published its 2021 earnings and the focus on 800-Volt technology was paying off. E-mobility products made up almost half of their revenue last year. The news also saw the company announcing another major order worth around two billion euros for its latest electric drive system.

Vitesco recorded an order intake of €11.2 billion in 2021, of which €5.1 billion was for electrification products. Orders received for high-voltage inverters totalled more than €2.5 billion, and for electric axle drives, it was €1.1 billion.

With an increase of 44.6 per cent, the ‘Electrification Technology’ division recorded the most robust organic growth of all units, Vitesco said. The adjusted EBIT-margin in the field improved by around 39 percentage points. The Continental spin-off noted that electrification products accounted for 888 million euros in sales.

“Our order intake clearly shows that we place our electrification products in all key markets worldwide,” said Vitesco CEO Andreas Wolf. He pointed to an order for 800-Volt inverters worth billions which the company reportedly received in January from an unnamed US customer. He also announced a new “major order worth around 2 billion euros” for Vitesco’s latest electric drive system that has just come in but again did not disclose more information. In addition to the major order from North America, orders were also recently received from a Chinese and a Japanese car manufacturer throughout 2021 – both worth several hundred million euros.

Overall, Vitesco claims an order backlog of more than €51 billion, 33 per cent in the electrification segment.

However, shareholders won’t be paid any dividends due to ongoing strains in the supply chains. The company also mentions the war in Ukraine that may lead to further difficulty in future. At the same time, Vitesco expects the strongest increase in production volumes of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles in 2022 for Europe with 17 to 19 per cent. Production volume in North America could increase by 15 to 17 per cent. For China, the company assumes a slight increase of 0 to 2 per cent for production figures but has only recently started to increase its business activities on the mainland. Vitesco Technologies was reportedly preparing to start producing 800-volt electric motor technology in China in 2023.

Vitesco also announces that it will concentrate its current four business units – Electronic Controls, Electrification Technology, Sensing & Actuation, and Contract Manufacturing – into two completely new units: ‘Powertrain Solutions’ and ‘Electrification Solutions’. Through this structural adjustment, which is to take effect on 1 January 2023, Vitesco Technologies intends to sharpen further its strategic focus on the electrification of the powertrain.

Against the backdrop of the trend toward electrification, Vitesco Technologies expects group sales of 8.6 to 9.1 billion euros in this fiscal year.

Looking back, Vitesco Technologies considers 2021 a “milestone year” since it included the spin-off from Continental AG, the stock exchange listing in September with a transaction volume of around € 2.4 billion, and the inclusion in the SDAX index in December.

vitesco-technologies.com (earnings), vitesco-technologies.com (new business units)