“Companies in the automotive sector better assess their current business situation and, above all, are much less pessimistic about the future than in March,” comments Anita Wölfl, specialist at the Ifo Center for Industrial Economy and New Technologies, on the results. of economic surveys.

Low order book is a burden, but the situation is improving

Small setback: Companies still estimate that their order book is relatively small. At the same time, more companies than in March complain about the lack of orders as an obstacle to production.

The good news: The drop in orders in April was significantly smaller than the previous month. In addition, the order book is sufficient for a longer period of time. “Both of these things can be seen as a positive sign,” says Wölfl.

VW is becoming more profitable

As if on cue, good news is also coming from Wolfsburg. VW headquarters announced that the VW car manufacturer it becomes more and more profitable. Sales in the volume business related to the main brand fell slightly. On the other hand, profits increased significantly thanks to the good results of all brands.

Operating return on investment for the core brand group, which includes the core brand as well as Skoda, Seat and VW Commercial Vehicles, rose 1.2 percentage points to 6.4 percent. Consequence: management confirms

the outlook for the year as a whole with an operating performance of six to seven percent. A good sign for the Ifo sentiment test in May.

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