Excellent results published by two car manufacturers, the Swedish Volvo and the Japanese Nissan. In particular Volvo Cars has announced a record increase in operating profit of 27% to 14 billion crowns (1,4 billion euros) while the group's net profit rose by 34% to 7,96 billion crowns and turnover by 17% to 210,9 billion crowns. “2017 was the fourth consecutive year of growth for Volvo Cars,” CEO Hakan Samuelsson said in a statement. The brand sold over 571.000 vehicles in 2017, 7% more than the 2016 record. In 2018, the group will experience “continued growth in revenue and sales,” added Samuelsson. Volvo Cars has set a goal of reaching 800.000 vehicles sold annually in 2020. The Gothenburg-based group also announced in early July that it will only launch electric or hybrid models from 2019.
2017 was also very good for Nissan, which announced that it closed the first nine of the 2017/18 fiscal year with a 40% jump in profit thanks to US tax reform, but which at the same time continues to suffer from the car inspection scandal revealed last year. So Nissan has again lowered the operating profit target to 565 billion yen (4,2 billion euros), instead of 645 billion, a drop of 24% in one year, also citing "a slowdown in sales growth and adjustments of inventories in the US market”. During the April-December period, net income was 578,1 billion yen, compared with 414,2 billion yen a year earlier. Excluding the effects of the tax reform, operating profit fell 27,6% to 364,2 billion yen. After the certification scandal, Nissan also had to temporarily suspend part of the production in the country's factories in October.
In Japan, sales have been affected by this issue, but "the strong demand for minicars" allowed the group to record a 9,7% increase in volume. For the full year ending at the end of March, the US tax reform allowed Nissan to raise its net profit projection to 705 billion yen (+6,3%) instead of a previously discounted 535 billion , while the turnover is still expected at 11.800 trillion yen (+0,7%).
