Autoliv has recorded record fourth-quarter 2020 net sales of US$2.52bn for its passive safety business.
Sales increased organically by 12.7%, outperforming global LVP by almost 11pp.
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All major regions outperformed LVP by around 9-13pp. Full year 2020 sales declined organically by 12% compared to Autoliv’s guidance of around 13% decline.
Order intake share for the full year 2020 was around 45%.
“Our focus throughout the COVID-19 crisis has been the health and safety of our employees and to come out of it as a stronger company,” said Autoliv president & CEO, Mikael Bratt. “Although the pandemic is not yet behind us, I am confident our performance in the second half of the year shows we have built a solid platform to move towards our mid-term targets.
“The fourth quarter was a quarter with record net sales, record operating income and record cashflow. This was a result of high sales growth, good operational execution, structural savings and crisis management cost reductions. This was achieved despite significant warranty and recall accruals. The high recall costs in the fourth quarter do not reflect Autoliv’s high quality standards.
“It is important to recognise we are still in an uncertain environment and we continue to face significant challenges in 2021. Our strong performance in the second half of 2020 was supported by temporary cost reductions that we do not expect to be equally supportive in 2021. Light vehicle production rates are expected by IHS Markit to be lower in 2021 compared to the second half of 2020.
“We also face headwinds from the surge in raw material prices.”
