In the first quarter of 2021 Kögel reports that incoming orders are more than twice as high as in the same period in 2019. Managing director Thomas Heckel wants to use the strong tailwind, among other things, to invest in the optimization of SKD production at the Burtenbach location.
Kögel is starting 2021 with a strong tailwind, as evidenced by the figures for the first quarter. The order intake from January to March amounts to 6,978 vehicles. In the same period last year, Kögel still sold 2,949 units (+137 percent).
Due to the Covid19 pandemic, sales slumped across the industry last year. The economic development of the past year is thus atypical and can only serve as a benchmark to a limited extent. Compared to the first quarter of 2019, Kögel recorded a 110 percent increase in incoming orders (3,325 units). The recovery already began in the fourth quarter of last year. During this period, order intake totaled 3,370 vehicles.
In the first quarter of 2021, demand was particularly strong in Eastern Europe (4,088 units), ahead of Western Europe (2,890 units). The strongest sales regions and individual markets are Austria and Russia/Ukraine, followed by the Benelux countries, the Baltic States/Poland, Germany, and Italy.
“Our prospects are excellent. Customers have a lot of pent-up demand. Kögel is starting 2021 with a strong tailwind,” explained Thomas Heckel, Kögel’s managing director responsible for finance, at the start of the company’s first virtual press conference on May 12. Kögel plans to sell a total of 19,500 units in 2021. “There are no signs of a slowdown in demand. We are well on our way toward our sales target,” Heckel announces. Supply problems with individual supplier products such as semiconductors, from which the entire automotive industry is currently suffering, may prove to be an inhibiting influence. These are mainly still consequences of the Covid19 pandemic, during which production capacities were reduced. The blockade of the Suez Canal is also still having an impact.
Heckel emphasizes, “However, we are very confident that we will benefit from the positive economic situation and are planning investments worth millions at the Burtenbach site.” As examples, Heckel mentions the expansion of SKD production and the shipping center, where trailer kits are manufactured and packaged for markets throughout Europe, as well as the expansion and modernization of the administration building.