INGOLSTADT, Germany: German luxury car maker Audi is turning more gloomy about the chances of growing earnings next year due to weakening European markets, potentially making it harder for parent Volkswagen (VW) to meet its goal of lifting profits in 2013.
Audi, VW’s biggest profit generator, believes it could take two to three years for auto sales to return to growth in austerity-stricken Europe, where it sells half of its cars, Chief Executive Rupert Stadler said.
“The wind out there is becoming much harsher,” Stadler said in an interview at the car maker’s headquarters in Ingolstadt, southern Germany. “Customers all over Europe are unnerved” by the effects of the debt crisis, he said.
Stadler has become more pessimistic during the fourth quarter on the business outlook in Europe. At the Paris auto show in September, he said it was possible Audi’s core markets might only stagnate for the next one or two years.
Audi vehicle sales in Germany and Europe as a whole fell in November, shrinking 4.3 percent and 1.9 percent respectively, after gains of 5.1 percent and 4.2 percent the month before.
Asked whether Audi’s expectation of increasing vehicle sales next year would translate into a higher 2013 operating profit, the CEO said he would not put his money on it today.
The maker of the 113,500-euro ($ 150,200) R8 sports car grew nine-month profit 6 percent to 4.2 billion euros, almost half the 8.8 billion of parent VW, whose eight passenger-car brands include sports-car maker Porsche and Czech arm Skoda.
A failure by VW’s flagship brand to increase earnings next year could hamper efforts by VW to achieve its goal of raising 2013 group profit above last year’s record 11.3 billion euros.
This year, VW is bracing for flat earnings because of spending on a new technology for building small and mid-sized vehicles.
Stadler said Audi would post a smaller increase in global auto sales in December than the 10.9 percent gain, or 123,600 vehicles, reported in November, due partly to fewer work days.
Record sales this year in the US and China will offset weakness in Europe and drive global deliveries beyond 1.4 million cars and sports utility vehicles (SUVs), the CEO said.
Audi may achieve 1.5 million sales, a goal originally set for 2015, next year or by 2014, he added.
Audi, aiming to surpass German rival BMW as the world’s biggest luxury car maker, may increase overseas production and is looking at Brazil and Asia, Stadler said.
“All (car) manufacturers are working intensively to improve their market potential in those countries,” the CEO said.
The share of Audi’s two main Germany-based plants in Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm of the brand’s global production may drop below 50 percent by 2017 as Audi’s global output swells to 1.87 million vehicles, a big chunk of it at new factories in Mexico and China as well as expanded facilities in Hungary and China, according to research firm IHS Automotive.
Audi concerned over weakening euro markets
Audi concerned over weakening euro markets
Saudi Arabia’s foreign reserves rise to a 6-year high of $475bn
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s foreign reserves climbed 3 percent month on month in January to SR1.78 trillion, up SR58.7 billion ($15.6 billion) from December and marking a six-year high.
On an annual basis, the Saudi Central Bank’s net foreign assets rose by 10 percent, equivalent to SR155.8 billion, according to data from the Saudi Central Bank, Argaam reported.
The reserve assets, a crucial indicator of economic stability and external financial strength, comprise several key components.
According to the central bank, also known as SAMA, the Kingdom’s reserves include foreign securities, foreign currency, and bank deposits, as well as its reserve position at the International Monetary Fund, Special Drawing Rights, and monetary gold.
The rise in reserves underscores the strength and liquidity of the Kingdom’s financial position and aligns with Saudi Arabia’s goal of strengthening its financial safety net as it advances economic diversification under Vision 2030.
The value of foreign currency reserves, which represent approximately 95 percent of the total holdings, increased by about 10 percent during January 2026 compared to the same month in 2025, reaching SR1.68 trillion.
The value of the reserve at the IMF increased by 9 percent to reach SR13.1 billion.
Meanwhile, SDRs rose by 5 percent during the period to reach SR80.5 billion.
The Kingdom’s gold reserves remained stable at SR1.62 billion, the same level it has maintained since January 2008.
Saudi Arabia’s foreign reserve assets saw a monthly rise of 5 percent in November, climbing to SR1.74 trillion, according to the Kingdom’s central bank.
Overall, the continued advancement in reserve assets highlights the strength of Saudi Arabia’s fiscal and monetary buffers. These resources support the national currency, help maintain financial system stability, and enhance the country’s ability to navigate global economic volatility.
The sustained accumulation of foreign reserves is a critical pillar of the Kingdom’s economic stability. It directly reinforces investor confidence in the riyal’s peg to the US dollar, a foundational monetary policy, by providing SAMA with ample resources to defend the currency if needed.
Furthermore, this financial buffer enhances the nation’s sovereign credit profile, lowers national borrowing costs, and provides essential fiscal space to navigate global economic volatility while continuing to fund its ambitious Vision 2030 transformation agenda.
