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Chief Financial Officer Richard Palmer said the strong performance was supported by sales of high margin vehicles, including electrified ones.
“We are ahead of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) in Europe in electric vehicle sales, and not far from Volkswagen (ETR:VOWG_p),” he said.
The world’s fourth largest carmaker said its adjusted earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) rose 44% on a pro-forma basis in the January-June period to 12.4 billion euros ($12.7 billion).
That exceeds analyst expectations of 9.42 billion euros in a Reuters poll.
The margin on adjusted EBIT rose to 14.1% from 11.4% a year earlier, with a double-digit result for all of the group’s five regions and a record 18.1% in North America, where the group made almost half of its sales in the six months.
Palmer however remained cautious regarding a solution to the semiconductor shortage affecting the sector, saying the issue will persist for the rest of this year.
“We see some improvements quarter by quarter, but it’s a slow process,” he said.
($1 = 0.9784 euros)
