The automotive industry has become somewhat of a crisis industry, and expectations were therefore low ahead of Autoliv's interim report. The forecast for the company's organic sales is now being lowered, but not nearly as much as the market had feared, and the stock is surging over 9 percent on the Stockholm Stock Exchange.
This after reporting an operating profit of nearly 2.4 billion kronor for the third quarter.
We have seen a quarter where car production has decreased by almost 5 percent and significant challenges, for example, in the USA with high inventory levels among car dealers. In that context, we are delivering a strong quarter and report, says the company's CFO Fredrik Westin to TT.
Announced Savings
Autoliv has since announced cost-cutting measures, a process that was initiated last year and will continue.
It's not something that's finished yet. On the white-collar side, we intend to reduce our workforce by nearly 2,000 employees. We have laid off over 1,000, and this will continue until 2026.
Several of the company's customers, i.e., major car manufacturers, have issued profit warnings recently. This is happening at the same time as the EU has announced additional tariffs on Chinese car manufacturers.
We don't see that as a major problem. The volumes affected by the tariffs are still so small that they don't play a decisive role for our part, says Fredrik Westin.
Building Factories
According to Fredrik Westin, Chinese car manufacturers are already building factories in Europe to avoid the tariffs.
It won't be a linear development, says Fredrik Westin about the future of the electric car market. But for us, it doesn't play a major role. Our products are almost identical regardless of whether they are sold to an electric car or a car with a combustion engine.
