The demand for electric trucks appears to be growing only slowly. Many manufacturers are on the market with their first products, but the prices are very high, said the head of the vehicle supplier Knorr-Bremse, Marc Llistosella, when presenting the report preliminary annual balance sheet. “Without some funding it will be very difficult to achieve higher market penetration here,” he said. Knorr-Bremse is technically prepared for both the brakes and the controls, but the optimistic target figures of the past few years “in fact will not come to pass”. He sees a “delayed market realization” of e-mobility in the truck sector.
The world market leader only announced in October that it would be calling its development unit focused on e-trucks Ecubator to continue. The team was founded specifically in 2020 to prepare the group for the requirements of electric commercial vehicles. Dem Federal Motor Transport Authority According to this, almost 61,000 trucks with electric drives were registered nationwide at the beginning of 2023 – around 17,000 more than a year earlier.
In general, the Munich-based vehicle supplier expects restrained growth in 2024 despite record orders last year. Sales will be between 7.7 and 8 billion euros, said Llistosella, with around 400 million euros lost through various sales. “We expect market conditions to continue to be difficult this year.” However, the crisis in the Red Sea has little impact on the group’s supply chains – because of the “high localization in the core markets” of the USA, China and Europe. The impact is “extremely small,” said Llistosella, “we can expect delays here to be in the single-digit million range at most.”
According to preliminary figures, Knorr-Bremse generated sales of 7.9 billion euros in the last financial year – including around 150 million euros from the Kiepe Electric division in Düsseldorf, which was just sold. That is 10.9 percent more than in 2022, a record in the company’s history. The operating result (EBIT) rose from 794.6 million to 893.1 million euros. Demand is developing well in both rail and commercial vehicle business areas. The rail business benefited from good business in North America and Europe as well as increasing passenger numbers in China. India is also becoming increasingly important for the rail sector, as the government there wants to significantly expand the rail industry’s infrastructure. “We see India as one of the most attractive future markets for Knorr-Bremse,” said Llistosella.
Positive outlook
The business with parts for trucks and other commercial vehicles benefited from the increasing vehicle production. At almost 8.3 billion euros, incoming orders in 2023 were higher than ever before. The service business also increased. However, profitability is expected to improve further this year: Knorr-Bremse predicts an operating profit margin of 11.5 to 12.5 percent, after 11.3 percent in 2023. Llistosella referred to the ongoing savings program, which also includes Kiepe Electric was sold to the Berlin investment company Heramba. “In 2026 we want to generate at least eight to nine billion euros in sales,” he said.
According to the balance sheet presentation, Knorr-Bremse shares rose by up to eight percent to 63.20 euros, making them higher than they have been since mid-September. “Overall, this is a better-than-expected report and a reassuring forecast,” say analysts at JP Morgan.