Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the conference on the earnings of the third quarter of 2023, the release. I am going to conduct the conference today. Today, we have availability for Q&A. We have Marcos Oliveira, the CEO, Renato Salum, CFO, and Luis Fernando Abreu, Director of IR and Strategy. We are recording this conference, and this will be available in the website, where you will also see the presentation corresponding to it. We also have simultaneous interpretation available in the globe icon, written interpretation on it in your lower screen in your panel. When you select it, you should choose your language of preference, Portuguese or English. If you are listening in English, you have the option of silencing the original audio, clicking on Mute Original Audio.
For Q&A, the questions- and- answers session, we ask you to use the Q&A icon in your lower part of the screen. Due to the dynamic, we will announce your name so that you can ask your questions live, and then you will have solicitation to activate your microphone. Before we proceed, we would like to make it clear that any declarations that might be done during the conference about any perspective of business of the company, projections or operational goals and targets are beliefs and premises of the directorate, as well as information that is currently available for the company. Any future operations are not guarantees of development. They involve risks, uncertainties, and premises because they refer to future events and therefore, they might not happen. I would like to now pass on the floor to Marcos Oliveira. Marcos, you have the floor.
Good morning, and welcome to this video conference on the earnings release of the third quarter of 2023 of Iochpe-Maxion. The third quarter of 2023 has been marked by uncertainties economically and also geopolitically worldwide. Despite all of those uncertainties, the supply chain worldwide has operated consistently, making feasible to grow in the sales of the main automotive markets. The volume of production in commercial vehicles in Brazil keeps significantly lower than normal due to the transition of the Euro 5 to Euro 6, which also impacts the mix and profitability of the company. In the other regions, we have seen a linear growth with the good development of the market.
The global production of light vehicles and commercial vehicles, excluding China, has presented a growth of 14.7% and 5.7%, respectively, during the third quarter of 2023 compared to the third quarter of 2022, according to the IHS and LMC consultancy . One of the highlights of the third semester has been the contract in order to acquire 100,000 steel wheels a year for North America for a new project of a very important provider of electric vehicles, with the initial production for the second quarter of the year of 2025. And with that, the engineering team of Maxion Wheels has shown again their technical competence and their capacity for innovation, emphasizing the reduction of noise, vibration, and harshness in steel wheels for light vehicles.
This aspect is even more relevant for electric vehicles. The project should catch the attention of other assemblers with the application of combined steel and aluminum wheels for light vehicles, which is a more economic and ecological solution. In addition to this project, the same assembler has named Maxion to provide approximately 300,000 aluminum wheels. Additionally, in Europe, starting in 2025, for a model that is already in existence. Those additional businesses show the potential of the company in continuing to grow in this segment of light vehicles and commercial vehicles, regardless of the configuration of the system of propulsion used by the vehicles, and applying our capacity and in the industry, and wheels, and structural components that would be used in the new mobility technological solutions for the future.
Slide 2 of the presentation, we can see the projections of light vehicles and commercial vehicles for global production. We can see a growth of 8% in the production of light vehicles in 2023, compared to the year of 2022, reaching approximately 88.5 million vehicles to be produced in the year of 2023. In the segment of commercial vehicles, we can see a growth of 10% in the production of those vehicles in 2023 compared to 2022, despite the significant low in the production of commercial vehicles in Brazil during the year of 2023. In slide number 3, some of the main highlights of the company during the third quarter of 2023, a net revenue of BRL 3.7 billion.
A reduction of 15% compared to the third quarter of 2022. We have reached a gross margin of 9.9% in the third quarter of 2023, an increase of 2.1 percentage points compared to the third quarter of 2022. Growth of 8.7% in EBITDA in the company during the third quarter of 2023, with a margin of 8.2%, an increase of 1.8 percentage points compared to the third quarter of 2022. We have reached a leverage of 2.85x in 2023, compared to 2.21x in the third quarter of 2022.
We had a reduction of the net debt of BRL 597.3 million in the third quarter of 2023, compared to the third quarter of 2022. Our liquidity in total went from more than 3.5 million reais, compared to 204 million reais in the third quarter of 2022, and a liquidity index of 2x. In slide number 4, we can see the consolidated net operating revenue of the company reaching BRL 3.672 billion, with a reduction of 15% compared to the third quarter of 2022.
We can also see an operational consolidated net operating revenue of BRL 11,462 million, a reduction of 10.3% compared to those nine months of 2022. This reduction is due to the lower volume of production of commercial vehicles in Brazil, due to the transition to Euro 6. There is reduction of the costs of raw materials, reflecting in the prices for sales of our products, and a variation in the rate exchange of BRL 115.6 million in the third quarter of 2023, and BRL 216.8 million in the first nine months of 2023. In slide number five, rather, we can see the revenue by product and the effect of the production in commercial vehicles in Brazil.
We can see the revenue of structural components for commercial vehicles, reducing from 25.2% in the third quarter of 2022 to 20.2% in the third quarter of 2023. We can also see the reduction in the steel wheels for commercial vehicles, from 22.9% to 20.9% in the third quarter of 2023. And an increase in the participation of, in the share of aluminum wheels for light vehicles, from 20.9% to 25.4%, and aluminum wheels for light vehicles from 27% to 30.2% in the third quarter of 2023.
In Slide 6, we can see the impact in the lowering of the production of commercial vehicles in Brazil, in the net operating revenue by client, and the lower in the participation of clients such as Daimler and Traton, and the growth in the participation in the share of light vehicles in groups such as Volkswagen and Toyota, Renault, and Nissan. Slide 7 shows the operational performance in South America, reaching a net operating revenue of BRL 1 million and BRL 13 million in the third quarter of 2023, lower in the 29.5% regarding compared to the same period of last year, clearly impacted by the low in production of commercial vehicles in Brazil.
This slowing of production for frames for commercial vehicles, due to the change of motorization from Euro 5 to 6, and the increase in production of aluminum wheels for light vehicles, is reflected in this downfall of the participation of South America, from 33.3% to 27.6% in the third quarter of 2023. Looking at the development of Brazilian market, in terms of produced vehicles, we can see a decrease of 3.4% of those light vehicles and 45.1% in the production of commercial vehicles. Slide number eight. Now, looking at North America, we can see a net operating revenue of BRL 111 million in the third quarter of 2023, a lower of 10.5% compared to the third quarter of 2022.
The reduction of cost in the raw materials is reflected in the sales price of our products. The increased volume of steel and aluminum wheels for light vehicles, and also the variation, the negative variation in exchange rate, which was BRL 82.5 million in this quarter, explain that low in terms of operational revenue.... The market performance in terms of production of vehicles has been positive, and the light vehicles has growth 9.3% in North America, and the production of commercial vehicles has grown 3.3% in the third quarter of 2023. Slide 9 will now show the operational performance in Europe, and there we can see a net operating revenue of BRL 1.194 million reais, which is a reduction of 3.8% compared to the third quarter of 2022.
This reduction has also been due to the reduction of the cost in raw materials reflected in the sales price of our products, the growth in volume of the wheels for light and commercial vehicles, and the positive exchange rate, which has been BRL 9.3 million now. Now, looking at the market performance in terms of production of vehicles, we can see a growth in the production of light vehicles, which was 3.1% and 19.5% for the production of commercial vehicles over in Europe for the third quarter in 2023.
Slide number 10 will now show Asia and other markets, and there we have had a net operating revenue of BRL 394 million, which was an 11% reduction compared to 2022, being impacted by the exchange rate variation, which was of BRL 42.4 million, and an increase in volume of wheels, aluminum wheels for light vehicles and steel wheels for light and commercial vehicles over in India. The participation of Asia has grown from 9.2% to 9.6% over in the third quarter of 2023.
Looking at the performance of this market in terms of production of vehicles, for some of the main markets for the company in Asia, we can see a growth in production of light vehicles of 4.8%, a reduction of 3.9% in the production of commercial vehicles in India, and a reduction of 5.7% in the production of light vehicles in Thailand over in the third quarter of 2023. Slide number 11 shows the gross profit of BRL 362 million in the third quarter of 2023, a growth of 6.9% compared to the third quarter of 2022. Increasing the gross margin from 7.8% to 9.9% in the third quarter of 2023.
During the first nine months of 2023, we have had a big downfall of 20.4%, compared to the nine months of 2022, now reaching a gross profit of BRL 1,128,000 in 2023. In the slide number 12, we can see an EBITDA of the company in the third quarter of 2023, compared to the third quarter in 2022, with this margin of 8.5% in the year of 2023, versus 8.4% in the third quarter of 2022.
Excluding the items which are non-recurrent from both periods, we can see a margin that has been adjusted in 6.4% in the third quarter of 2022, and 8.2% in the third quarter of 2023. Throughout the first nine months of the year, we have reached BRL 963 million compared to BRL 1,445 million in the nine months of 2022. Slide 13, we can see the net income loss of BRL 3 million in 2023, compared to a net of BRL 69 million in 2022.
The impact has been generated by the company's subsidiaries in Mexico and Czech Republic and Turkey, which generated an accounting impact, which was non-cash of BRL 87.6 million in the income tax line in the third quarter of 2023, and BRL 83.5 million in the first nine months of the year of 2023. Slide number 14 shows the investments of a hundred and forty million reais in the third quarter of 2023, compared to the hundred and twenty-one in the third quarter in 2022, and an investment of three hundred and thirty million reais in the first nine months of the year of 2023, which is very similar to the first nine months of the year of 2022.
The main investments during this period were related to the increase in capacity to meet the demand of the commercial vehicle segment in North America, and the construction of the new aluminum wheel plant for trucks over in Europe. Slide number 15 shows us the financial leverage of the company in the third quarter of 2023, of 2.85x , which is very consistent to the two previous quarters, which were in 2.78x . So the reduction in net debt of BRL 344.9 million compared to the year of 2022, and BRL 597.3 million compared to the third quarter of the year of 2022, as well as the reduction of EBITDA over the last 12 months, are the main factors explaining the variation in financial leverage of the company.
Slide 16 shows the liquidity ratio of the company, which was 2x during the third quarter of 2023, with the total liquidity in cash and equivalents plus RCF of BRL 354.7 million in the third quarter of 2023, compared to BRL 2,958.9 million in the 3Q, in the corresponding period in 2023, and BRL 204 million in the third quarter of 2022.
In this slide number 17, we can see the main reduction here of indebtedness and the composition in terms of the currencies, considering that the real is 48% of the debt, dollar is 11.3%, euro is 38.1%, and other currencies would be 2.7%. We can see as well that situation of the cash and also revolving credit of the company, which is BRL 22 million and BRL 555 million, which is proper to the complete income of the company for the year of 2024 and 2025. The next slide, we can see some of the main launches for the third quarter of 2023. Steel wheels for light vehicles, like electric vehicles over in Europe, increasing the efficiency, the energy efficiency in the application of this Fiat vehicle.
Aluminum wheels for personalization and plastic insertion in China, which is already a result of the launch of our new plant for wheel, aluminum wheels over in China, which is now in the launch phase. Steel wheels for light vehicles in South America, showing the application of this type of wheel in the daily application vehicles.
The next slide will show some of the main highlights of the third quarter of 2023, compared to the excellence in quality shown by the steel wheel plant in Limeira with the General Motors Award, and also the Mexico Master Quality Award, and also the San Luis Potosí in Mexico with the quality recognition steel wheels, and also the GM Award for quality in North America for the San Luis Potosí Mexico plant, and also the 2022 Masters of Quality Steel Wheels award, also for the Mexican plant in San Luis Potosí, and also the awards by the Daimler Truck and the Nissan in Mexico, and also for the Iveco plant in our structural components plant in Mexico. In the next slide, we have a few examples of our advances in our Roadmap Zero for the year of 2023.
Our pilot project for an aluminum wheel produced with 100% secondary aluminum, generating a 62% reduction in CO₂ emissions when compared to the use of primary aluminum. Likewise, the ultra-low CO₂ steel wheel, with the use of green steel in the production of the wheel and the use of electrical energy from renewable sources, led to a 61% reduction in the emissions of CO₂, when compared to the conventional production. And one of the highlights in our showroom in Frankfurt has been our BIONIC wheel, a steel wheel with larger rims and more advanced design. It becomes a more sustainable solution with a very attractive design when compared to the aluminum used in wheels that have larger dimensions. With that, we would like to now open the floor for the Q&A session.
Now we will start this Q&A session.
We kindly ask you to ask all of your questions at once and wait for the response from the company. Remember that in order to ask a question, you should send the question using the Q&A menu in your lower part of your screen, and then you will have the allowance to speak for a live question. You will have a solicitation appear in your screen for you to activate your microphone. The first question is from Fernanda Urbano, equity analyst from XP. Fernanda, you can use the audio to ask your question.
Good morning. Can you all hear me?
Yes, we can.
Good morning. Thank you for having us. We have two questions here. First, I would like to understand a little bit more about the margin dynamic in this quarter compared to the second in 2023.
Looking at the impact of each cost in the margin, we can see a loss, especially in the lines of raw materials and salaries. I would like to understand if you see that as a specific effect that should be overcome in the fourth quarter, or is it going to impact negatively in the next season? And the second point would be about the strike of the assemblers in the United States. We have had many news about that during October. I would like to understand whether or not you have a dimension of the possible impact in the volumes in North America due to that effect, and if you expect a specific impact in October or if that might be prolonged for longer or even up to 2024. Thank you.
Fernanda, thank you. Thank you for your questions.
First of all, regarding the margin, we still over at the third quarter of 2023, we did have an impact in the production of commercial vehicles in Brazil. That has been quite significant in terms of mix and also margins in our operations. Which of course, on the global average, would affect our results. And we also had the transition of the prices for raw materials that still took place in some regions, especially in Europe, throughout the third quarter of 2023, as well as North America, which ended up affecting the margin of the company. The fourth quarter would be historically with less volume. Traditionally, it is a quarter with less margin due to a matter of volume, actually.
But we do believe that the efforts of having those variations forward in costs to our clients, all of the actions are for improvement of efficiency in our plants, will allow us to have more margins growing in the fourth quarter and in 2024. And for the fourth quarter, we'll have more or less similar level of the third quarter due to the lowering of volume in the plants, especially in North America and South America, and the OEM for light and commercial vehicles. But we still have a reduction of costs for the company and also improvements in operational efficiency. And the efforts of moving that cost variation forward to the clients, beginning to affect positively the results and the outcomes that we have, especially during the year of 2024.
The strikes in North America have had a limited impact in the production of our products in North America, especially because our revenue for light vehicles in North America is inferior to 10% of the revenue that is consolidated by the company. So this effect has occurred especially throughout the month of October, which was a small part of it in the month of September, by the end of September, and now in the month of October has been normalized, and now it's still getting back to normal. We do have an interest in the companies to seek and recuperate the volume that has been lost during this period. It's still hard to quantify that due to the reduction of the capacity in the assembly lines in order to recover from those volumes that they lost during that period.
But we do believe that we will have an impact in the fourth quarter, but it is still a relatively lower impact, depending, of course, on the efforts and the speed with which we recover with the assembly lines during the next few months.
Very clear. Thank you.
Our next question comes from Fernanda Recchia, Society Analyst of BTG. Fernanda, go ahead.
Hello, good morning. Can you all hear me?
Yes, we can. Good morning.
Good morning. Well, two questions from my side. First, I would like to explore a little bit of how you see the recovery of the automobile market in Brazil. If you can comment about the expectations for the last quarter and next year as well. And the second question, still about the contract that you announced for the third quarter, for the steel wheels, for electric vehicles.
Perhaps if you could show us a little bit of the profitability of those contracts and the profitability of the contract. Would it be a higher profitability than your margins that has been consolidated? And then you said that this might get the attention of other OEMs, but could we expect new announcements in the short term? That would be interesting. Thank you.
Fernanda, once again, thank you very much for your question. Good morning.
First, regarding the Brazilian market, when we assess the production and the sales of light vehicles, we started to observe that after the effect of reducing the prices of vehicles due to that program that has been implemented by the government throughout the months from June to the beginning of July, we can start to see now in the month of October an increase, an improvement in the sales of light vehicles. And also, as a consequence, we expect a gradual improvement in the production of light vehicles as well. If we look at the year of 2023 as a whole, the segment of light vehicles actually had a performance that was relatively positive.
The growth and increase regarding, compared to the year of 2022, the great challenge that we have for the industry and for us, of course, because the segment of commercial vehicles is important for us here in the Brazilian market, is the lower in the production of commercial vehicles, especially during the first six months of the year and over the third quarter of 2023, due to the transition from Euro 5 to 6.
When we speak to our clients in terms of the beginning of the demand by the main clients in the Brazilian market, we start to see a reaction, I would say, which is gradually positive due to the end of the stocks and the availability of Euro 5 trucks, and then the need to start to plan the production and the sales, of course, of 2023. Our view for 2024, I apologize. Our view of this compare, based on what we have been talking to our clients to, is a growth in 15, about 15% of the production in 2024 compared to 2023.
So the fourth quarter would be, I would say, a gradual increase in the volumes of production, because the assembly lines have lagged behind during the first quarters of the year, so we don't believe in such an expressive growth in the fourth quarter. But the perspective, I would say, for 2024 is positive. Is positive due to interests of the main clients, the big players, and also the indications of the assembly lines and their planning for the next year. Now, regarding the projects that we have announced now for the third quarter, and steel wheels for a client with electric vehicles in the light vehicles in North America, and the volume for aluminum wheels for the same client over in Europe.
I think those are indications that are quite clear of our capacity and the technological capacity, and our industrial potential to service those clients, be they electric vehicles or hybrid vehicles, or internal combustion engines clients, with our capacity to assist them. So those products can be aggregated and added to our portfolio without any big investments, which is, of course, positive in our margin as a whole. We believe that the margin for those projects in the average would be superior to the margin of the vehicles that the products that we are operating with now, and we believe, of course, that this will be reflected starting in 2025, when those programs will be launched.
We spoke about 500,000 steel wheels in North America, 300,000 aluminum wheels in Europe, and in the current prices for raw materials, that would be a revenue of $35 million-$40 million a year due to those programs. Of course, the variation of costs in raw materials could increase or decrease those revenues due to the raw material and their prices in 2025, but it would be important to have our effort continuing to increase our participation, our share, especially in those segments of electric vehicles.
We believe that the project, due to it being at a very expressive volume, a very important client in a, in a segment that is growing, will get the attention of others, and that might generate a mix between aluminum and steel wheels for their own applications, for light vehicles as well. This was something that in the past, many people would believe that the share and the participation of steel wheels would be decreasing in the future, and we always had the opinion that the steel wheels would continue to have an important participation in the mix of products, due to the competitiveness of the production, of course, and also in the increase in the improvements of the efficiencies in design that we have been seeing. We showed our BIONIC wheel, which was represented over in Frankfurt.
This is an example of how you can advance, not only in terms of energy efficiency and the reduction of weight, but also the design of steel wheels, which make them a very attractive solution in terms of the economy and also the emission of CO₂ for the assembly line. So we believe that those are steps that will show that our portfolio of steel wheels and aluminum wheels will be ever important in the production for automobiles in the world. That would position us, I would say, in a very important position, because our main competitors globally, they would produce either steel wheels or aluminum wheels. They wouldn't have this capacity, this flexibility that we have of offering a portfolio that is complete with all products, looking at the necessities for mobility in the future. I hope I have responded to your question appropriately.
Thank you, Marcos.
Good morning. Thank you.
Our next question comes from Andre Ferreira, analyst from Bradesco BBI. Andre, go ahead.
[foreign language] Oi, bom dia pessoal. Hello, good morning. I have two questions. The first is coming back a little bit about the margins. Something that caught our attention is that due to our assessment here, the margin in Brazil has been increasing, and in outside operations, it will be falling down. And that might be due to a weaker mix in Brazil and with monthly increase in sales in Europe. And I think you have commented during the first questions, but if you could elaborate a little bit further about whether or not that math makes sense, and what made that behavior come to reality.
So the other question, still about the margin, the main detractors of the margin would be the increase in the price of the stock and also raw materials. So I'd like to understand how much of a problem that still is for you. Thank you.
Thank you, Andre. Thank you for your questions. Yes, your observation is correct. Our margin in Brazil has increased. It has improved during the third quarter, unfortunately, with the lower revenue due to the lower in the production of commercial vehicles. So in terms of the impact of that margin in the consolidated margin by the company, that ended up being diluted by the reduction itself in the volume and the revenue still for commercial vehicles.
But that has been increased still, as a result of the actions that we have been implementing now over the year of 2023, in order to adequate the capacity to the new volumes that we have been dealing with now. Those actions have been taken out every month and every quarter in order to increase those margins. So that gives us a very interesting base for the year of 2024 in terms of the growth of the results, the increase in results with more proper volumes for next year. So the margin in Europe has been impacted still by the issue of the mix. We did have a variation in the mix of in the sales levels of Europe, and also due to the costs and variations in the cost of raw materials.
So we still see, especially in Europe, but also a little bit in, in North America, not as much in Brazil, but in those two regions, we still have a reduction effect in the prices for raw materials, which of course brings an impact of transition in our outcomes. But that starts already to... Those prices in raw materials start to stabilize already, both in Europe and North America, and the old stocks for products and, and raw material with higher costs start to dilute themselves. So we start to be we believe that those effects start to be reduced very greatly, starting now in the fourth quarter of 2023. I hope that was enough as, as an answer.
It was. Thank you.
Our next question is from Andre Mazini, Society A nalyst of Citi. Andre, you have the floor.
Hello, Marcos, Rodrigo, thank you for the call.
So this week we have seen a Wall Street Journal article saying that the electric vehicles providers should be giving discounts in order to increase sales, especially over in the United States. With your data and your presence there in North America, those discounts that they start to give, do they have any potential to affect the commercial relationship or even the margins that you have? Or is it more dependent on the raw material cost than the cost plus specification that you have implemented? Thank you.
Andre, thank you for your question. Indeed, that observation that you have made, we have made as well. We have seen that in North America and also in Europe.
A bit of that growth that has been more accelerated in electric vehicles, that has been seen by the end of 2022, beginning of 2023. Now it starts to stabilize a little bit, and the consumers start to assess their alternatives around electrification compared to hybridization or combustion engines. So this is a reality, and this is very interesting because for us, as I said before, the issue of propulsion is less representative for us. Because both the structural components as well as the wheels, we deal with clients that use internal combustion engines and electric or hybrid vehicles indistinctly. So we have been increasing our technical and technological capacities in order to offer different solutions for electric vehicles, but we still have the same conditions and capacities to offer those products for vehicles with internal combustion engines.
So in the case of the company, we are relatively agnostic in terms of the production of mobility due to the profile of products that we have. We also have the advantage of, of course, if we have an increase in the need for electric vehicles or in internal combustion engine vehicles, we can do that relatively quickly with no big investments, because our malleability allows us to adapt to that demand. So we can use that for future projections. Whatever we observe with the clients with which we have been talking, this transition to electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles will be a reality, which will be quicker, especially over in China, Europe, and North America. Perhaps a little bit slower in the case of South America, but that is a transition that should occur.
However, right now, in this transition moment, the consumer will assess and they will weigh the, the benefits versus the costs of operating a vehicle like that, and the possible incentives in offered by the different governments during the trade of those electric vehicles. So this is something that we have been keeping an eye on, and the price variation, of course, the pricing does not depend on the final price of the vehicle. We do have a negotiation ongoing with the client, of course, due to the cost of operation, cost of raw materials, the operational margins themselves, and this is the basis of our commercial relationship with the clients. Of course, we occasionally have success or lack of success with the given product or a client, of course, depending on the market, and that it might affect the volume.
And then we are, of course, subject to the variation of volume in our clients. The volume might go up or down, and that might affect our, our revenue and our margins, of course, depending on our, our exposure to those clients. But this is less to do with pricing of the vehicles and the direct impact that that might have over in our margins for businesses. Thank you, Andre.
Thank you, Marcos.
Our next question comes from Luiz Capistrano, Society Analyst of Itaú BBA . Luiz, you have the floor.
Hello, good morning. Thank you for the opportunity. I would like to first ask a question, which is a follow-up about one of the first answers about the margins for the fourth quarter.
I understand that you expect something that is lower in the margin compared to the third quarter, which is less likely for you, despite the strikes of the OEMs. In general, the outlook is more for a flat margin than to lower itself, right? I would like to confirm that information. The second question is that you commented about the gradual normalization of over in 2024. Perhaps we could put that in a model and start to project a more linear margin according to the history of the company, more for 2025. 2024 would be a recovering year with about 10% margin, maybe 11, 12, something like that, and then a trajectory like that. Would it make sense for you? The second point here would be regarding leveraging.
Considering this, this scenario, what do you expect for the end of the year and the next year? Do you have any preoccupations in terms of the analysis of some kind of leverage in order to study to leverage not only the margins, but also generating cash flow in a way? And I would like to understand how you think about those management of leveraging.
Luiz, thank you very much for your questions. Regarding the margins, of course, as I said before, the fourth quarter would be a quarter that has lower margins on average compared to the others during the year, due to the volume of production, and you have vacations and all that, established by the OEMs, especially in North and South America.
I think the margin for the fourth quarter shouldn't deviate too much from what we have been seeing, depending on the final volume of production. Of course, we don't have. We don't really have the whole volume view now for the month of October and the beginning of November, and we are now still working with the manufacturers in order to see what is the plan for production or by them, in order to provide that with the turning of the year, especially with that collective licensing that they have for December and January, especially in North America, Mexico, Brazil, in order to check for the final volume in the end of the fourth quarter. So assuming that the volumes would be relatively in line with our expectations, the imagined variations shouldn't go with a significant change there.
But we cannot estimate the final margin, because that will really depend on that matter of the volume of production, which would be planned still. But we don't expect a deviation that is as significant. And compared to the margins, regarding the regeneration of margins, we do believe in the regeneration of the year of 2024. That would occur also gradually over the year of 2024. We believed in this recovery, this gradual recovery, throughout the year of 2023, and that hasn't occurred really because the volumes ended up behaving in a way, I would say, that was inferior. So of course, the issue of volume ended up being important for us because we are producing components and systems of really high volume. So that ended up having a very important participation in our operation.
So that recovery of volume, that we believe that will happen in 2024 in Brazil, in the segment of commercial vehicles, with the consistent development in the growth in North America, with a market that is relatively stable, I would say, in Europe, but with volumes that are interesting already, that would give us the opportunity to really start to grow our margin towards our historical margin throughout the year of 2024, in order to go back to those margins, those average historical margins that we had by the end of the second semester of next year, and also throughout 2025.
So this is a positive forecast, considering that the actions we overtook this year would be about operations and pricing with our clients, and of course, that those actions will be implemented throughout the quarters, and then they are implemented with the launch of new products. We believe that will allow us to go back to growing margins again in 2024. Regarding your second question, I would leave that to Renato Salum, our CFO here. He will speak a little bit about that.
Hello, Luiz. Good morning. Thank you for your question. And regarding the leveraging here, according to what has been mentioned before, we have this retake of the production for commercial vehicles already considered by the LMC and the margin recovery due to the volume that has been mentioned by Marcos before.
We conclude here as a consequence, that we would have a tendency to improvement, and that this would be for the next year, and that would be an impact that would be positive compared to the next 12 months, you know, that would be gradual, of course. So we keep focused in the discipline of management of the churn, and we have with the working capital and the net debt, of course, with the limit to the coming from this addition of commercial vehicles for the next year, of course, we would have...
If that came back, you know, that addition that we, we had before, just as a calculation that would come compared to the next- the last year, we would have about 1,700, we would have about BRL 2.05 around that same quarter. So we are quite confident in those effects. And of course, those might bring more a greater cash flow and generation for the company, and that would be used as well to reduce the abrupt debt.
Great, folks. Thank you very much. Thank you for your responses, Marcos and Renato. Good morning to all of you.
Thank you.
Our next question comes from Andressa Varotto. She's an analyst in [audio distortion]. Andressa, you have the floor.
Hello. Thank you. Good morning. I have two questions here. I have... The first one would be about Europe.
We see that the volumes in the third quarter have been decreased in significantly margins compared to the second. So we would like to understand what is the perspective that the company has for Europe, especially regarding light vehicles for next year, and how that could relate to the recovery of the expected margins. The second question is about the observation about, especially North America and commercial vehicles, compared to the revenue of the company. That has been lower, and I would like to know whether or not that has been exclusively due to the price of raw material, or did you have any other factor impacting that value?
And I think along those same lines, I think you mentioned that in other opportunities, that the centers in North America, especially those in for commercial vehicles, would be operating in maximum capacity, and that would generate a loss of operational efficiency. I would like to know, how do you expect that behavior to change next year? Thank you.
Andressa, thank you for your questions. Good morning. Regarding the volumes over in Europe, I think your observation is rather precise. The volumes in Europe have been de-accelerated by the third quarter compared to the first semester, actually, and we believe that that pace will still keep going. You know, it will still be lower next year than compared to the this year now.
The forecast that we have in for 2024 about light vehicles in Europe, we have a forecast of a slight decrease in the production of light vehicles in Europe compared to the entire year of 2023. A slight decrease, because the first semester has been a more positive semester, and the second semester would be a lower volume semester. On average, you would have an interesting growth year by year, but comparing, you would have a downfall there. But this forecast for 2024, comparing to the second semester of 2023, that would show a little bit of a decrease in 2024, but with a volume that is still quite high and quite positive.
So in terms of operation, if you have a slight decrease, and when I say that, I mean like 2%-3% in the production of light vehicles for next year, around that level of demand, that shouldn't have an impact, a relatively significant impact, in our capacity to continue increasing those margins in the compared to the function of pricing and also the improvement of the operational efficiency that we have been implementing in our OEM. So we have been following closely with that, so a little bit of the dynamic of electric vehicles and internal combustion engines that have been seen in North America. Andre has mentioned that before in one of the questions. That has also been observed in Europe, and that makes that issue of volume not keep the same trend that it as it had in this first semester of 2023.
But again, that would be still in interesting levels in terms of volume, which is different from what we have experienced over the year of 2021 to the transition to 2022 as well. We are already in the level of, good volume in the European market, and by the end of the day as well, we also have the mix. You know, some vehicles would sell more or less. What is the mix of each one of those, and what is the impact that they will have in our, in our planning? In our way of seeing it, we believe in the growth, the gradual growth of the margins for the year of 2024, as I mentioned, due to the increase in volumes that we have been working with.
Regarding your other question, definitely, in terms of the variation of cost of raw materials, it did have an effect in the margins that we have seen throughout the year of, throughout the quarter, and in addition to the lowering in the production of commercial vehicles in Brazil. There is another factor, and that's why we invested-- we invest in the increase of capacity for structural component in North America, because we are operating in the maximum capacity of our plants there. Operating like that is not efficient. You end up losing operational efficiency.
Even if you have a very high volume, that is, a volume within the maximum capacity, but that forces us to work with a lot of extra time, and we have to work during the weekends, which are not really the normal periods for work, and that ends up decreasing the operational efficiency of the plant. So that's why we are investing in broadening our capacity for structural components in North America. This will gradually be made available to the market throughout 2024.
With this combination of volume, which is still in a positive level and high in North America, and the improvement efficiency, operational efficiency that is due to the capacity that we are deploying, again, that will allow our margins for commercial vehicles in North America to also start growing back over the year of 2024 and 2025. That is part of our expectations and our desire to increase the margins in 2024 and 2025 for our company. Thank you, Andressa.
Thank you. Good morning to you, and have a great day.
We've finished the Q&A sessions now, and we would like now to pass on the floor again to Marcos Oliveira for his final remarks.
Once again, thank you so much to all of you for participating.
We keep paying attention to the changes in the markets, be it in terms of the mix of products or in the comparison between commercial and light vehicles, electrical vehicles or autonomous vehicles, hybrid vehicles or internal combustion engine vehicles. The variations in volumes and the inflationary pressure that might exist and that has been reduced throughout the year of 2023. Also, adapting quickly in our operations in Brazil and abroad, to the demand, the current demand for vehicles and also the projected demands, in order to mitigate the impacts and profitability of the operations, the profitability of operations. We still are very much focused in productivity and operational efficiency, the launch of new products, the development of our advanced engineering, digitalization, innovation, and the strengthening of our trade in order to generate more value sustainably over the next few years.
Thank you very much and have a great day.
This video conference of the result of the third quarter of 2023 has been finished. The investor department is available to answer any other questions that you might have. Thank you very much for participating, and have a great day.