Mahle has introduced Mahle 2030+ strategy in which the supplier aims to focus on electrification and thermal management as well as components for high-efficiency green internal combustion engines.
The company believes that the sales potential with electric cars is thrice that of internal combustion engines. Within its electrification strategy's framework, the company focuses mainly on electric drives and smart charging.
According to the company, two new types of electric motor have attracted a strong response from customers: the Superior Continuous Torque (SCT) aimed at delivering high power continuously and the Magnet-free Contactless Transmitter (MCT) electric motor, which requires no rare earth elements and works efficiently without wear.
In Mahle chargeBIG, the company has a tried and tested charging solution for parking lots available in the marketplace. In addition, the company is working on wireless charging together with Siemens.
A press release from Mahle noted that it is among the world’s largest suppliers of high-efficiency modular thermal management systems for drivetrains and interior comfort. In the case of electric cars, the value creation potential for thermal management is significantly higher than with the internal combustion engine.
Electric compressors play a key role, and the latest one developed by the company is powerful, with a rating of up to 18 kilowatts. The total order volume for electric compressors has reached €1.4 billion.
Another highly successful product of the company is the battery cooling plate, which allows fast charging, long ranges and long service life for sensitive lithium-ion batteries. Mahle is also among the top global suppliers of innovative heat pump systems, which help reduce the energy consumption of an electric vehicle, allowing the use of smaller, inexpensive batteries.
The company has highly advanced products in classical drive systems that boost efficiency. The group supports more green internal combustion engines powered by hydrogen and synthetic fuels and intends to win market share.
In the 2022 financial year, sales grew by 14% to €12.4 billion. Arnd Franz, CEO, Mahle, noted that 2022 was an extraordinarily good year for the company in terms of orders received. “We will benefit from the impetus generated and continue our upturn,” he added.
In the current financial year, the company expects further growth in sales and higher profitability. In 2022, the technology group received new orders for more than €11 billion, about half of which are not dependent on the internal combustion engine. The strongest growth was experienced in the Thermal Management business unit, by 16% YoY and Electronics and Mechatronics by 13% YoY, both especially relevant for e‑mobility.
Double‑digit growth was also recorded in the business units connected with the internal combustion engine and the spare parts and accessories business.
The release noted that Mahle is boosting earnings power, liquidity, and efficiency in all functional areas. “By 2025, we want to be back on track for success. Earnings take priority over sales. And our cost management must become considerably faster,” said Franz.
However, cost increases due to the crisis, especially for materials and energy, eventually impacting the component supplier’s business, especially in the first half of the year.
The company countered these developments with cost savings, productivity improvements and price adjustments; sales and the operating result significantly improved in the second half of the year.
“We achieved this success through close cooperation with our customers and suppliers in order to distribute these additional costs fairly and equitably,” said Markus Kapaun, CFO, Mahle.
“Provisional figures for the first quarter indicate that this positive trend has continued into the new financial year. This shows that we are succeeding with our mix of innovative products for e‑mobility and proven competence for the internal combustion engine,” Franz added.
While Mahle posted negative EBIT for the year's first six months, earnings improvements in the third and fourth quarters led to a positive operating result. However, the operating profit was lower than the previous year, at €60 million.
The company noted that it was impossible to compensate entirely for the massive additional costs of €800 million due to the crisis during the reporting period. After financing expenses and taxes, it reported a consolidated net loss of €332 million for 2022 and aims to achieve a turnaround in 2023.
The group has a solid financial foundation for its strategic reorientation through committed credit lines and liquid funds totalling €2.3 billion. This figure includes a loan of €300 million granted by the European Investment Bank to develop zero-emission vehicle technologies.
“Mahle has stable financial prospects. We can call upon a diverse, balanced financing portfolio,” Kapaun emphasised.
The company is consistently forging ahead with its technological transformation. It deployed 5.4% of sales to fund research and development, and a large part is invested in the new strategic areas. About 70% of the new patent applications, totalling almost 400, submitted in 2022 concerned electrification.
Interestingly, in its Transformation Dialog, the company is breaking new ground to shape the future of its locations through appropriate tools and measures with its employees, employee representative bodies and trade unions. At the end of 2022, the group employed 71,947 people worldwide.
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