Hello everyone, and thank you for being with us. I'm actually thinking at first of July 2020 when I first came in the company. We just lost EUR 8 billion in six months. I remember, you know, concern, fear in the eyes of my teammates, some kind of hopeless comments in the media, and not a lot of people giving us the, at that moment, at least, many chances of rebounding. Of course, it was understandable. The context was also not the most favorable one for a car company that hit by heavy governance and financial turmoil. Two waves of pandemics on top, semiconductor crisis, Russia exit, inflation coming back, market down, and no product to launch for the first 18 months. Luckily, I can say today that we've made it.
This is, I think, the beauty of the automotive industry. It always gives you a chance when you do the right things. It is for me, the third time that I have the privilege of, you know, participating in the engineering of a turnaround in my career. This time, it has a special taste because Renault is a special place for me. Because we have created, I think, internally, a dynamic that will bring us where we had never been before. I would like to dedicate these results to the people who internally, who never lost the hope, and to the ones externally who have never stopped believing the potential of this glorious company, whether it was suppliers, dealers, investors. In 2022, our profitability reached 5.6 points.
These are 6 points more than two years before and twice as much as last year. EUR 46.4 billion of revenue. In other words, while our turnover was growing by 11%, our margin was increasing by 125%. We generated EUR 2.1 billion of free cash flow, coming back to a net positive financial position, which is good. In 2022, I think we have turned the page on the first phase of the Renaulution plan, what we call the Resurrection, and we did it well ahead of the schedule. We are out of the emergency room, we are back in the game, and now we are ready to fly and to race. 5.6% profitability, just to put it in the context, this is among our best years in two decades.
EUR 2.1 billion of free cash flow generation for Renault is actually historic. We have made more cash in two years than in the previous 10 years. The machine now is designed for stormy weather, and the team likes wet tracks. Remember when we went out of Russia in April, some said it was the knockout jab for Renault. Seven months later, we have more than compensated the shock. These results are above the consensus and much better than initial expectations. We started the year with a guidance at 4%. We downgraded at 3% when the conflict in Ukraine broke out, and finally, we doubled down. Our free cash flow generation also, as I said, is at an historical level, and we are finally cash rich.
We are here because for two years, we have been obsessive at implementing our plan consistently with discipline. As you know, it rests on three key levers. First, we have improved our go-to-market strategy. Second, we have been smart at developing the best ever product portfolio with the limited resources we had. This one you will see from now to 2026. Finally, we have made a huge work on cost. Let's start with our go-to-market strategy, or as we say, from volume to value. We keep on improving our product mix. C and above segments now represent almost 40% of our passenger car sales worldwide. We'll get quickly over 50, like the best in class. We learned that selling entry price cars may be not a good idea, high-end version of our new product making now over 70% of the mix.
These are unbelievable numbers. We focused on improving our channel mix. This year, retail, where you really have to sell and people really have to buy and to choose you, account for 67% of the Renault Group passenger car sales in the G5, in the big five countries. This is up 9 points from 2021, up 15 points from 2019. The bottom line is an historical high impact on our revenue with a 13-point positive effect arising from pricing and product mix. Again, this year, double digit. You know, there are a lot of discussion about electrification, happening in the industry. We are just doing it. In Europe, the Renault brand electric and hybrid, makes is skyrocketing. It moved from 4.5% in 2019 to 39% in 2022. 9 points in one year.
All of this before the new generation of product kicks in. We have one of the best CAFE performance in Europe, and it will get better. The deployment of our product strategy is also, I think, pretty reassuring. For the past two years, I can state that all the new launches so far were above our internal expectation, and also from a volume point of view and from a financial point of view. For the present, I can say two things. As we speak, our order bank is above 3.5 months, with a tendency to grow. In 2022, the average net revenue per vehicle increased by 33% compared to the beginning. For the future, I can only say that all the projects we are working on are on time and showing a performance above initial expectation.
Only two of them have already hit the market, Megane E-Tech and the Austral. Let's be a little bit more precise on that. First, Arkana, we sold 86,000 units in 2022 in more than 50 countries. In Europe, 65% of them were hybrids. Megane E-Tech is the first, I would say, as we call a Renaulution car, and it was this year, the first EV in France in the second semester, number three in Europe in its segment. We already received almost 50,000 orders in six months, and over 70% of our customers go for high trims, over 80% for large battery, showing that Renault can sell cars above EUR 40,000. Austral was also a major launch for us.
It just out in only 50% of the markets, we already got 26,000 orders since November. 65% E-TECH hybrid, over 60% of our clients went for the highest version. Dacia. Dacia is a never-ending success story. Still on the rise, with almost 8% market share in Europe for retail passenger cars. It has reached an all-time record. It's now the number three brand in Europe in retail. The Sandero with 230,000 sales remains the best-selling vehicle to retail customer in Europe since 2017. Jogger, which is, as you know, the most affordable seven-seater in Europe, is the brand-new star with almost 60,000 units sold in 2022. Let's finish with Alpine. It's been growing for three years, reaching a record level of orders with sales up 33% versus 2021.
In France, the A110 is the best-selling sports car. It is in the top 5 in the sports coupe segment in Europe. We celebrate this year 60 years of the A110, and we introduced three limited edition. All three have found buyers in less than 30 minutes. The kind of fans' excitement you only see with brands like Lambo, Ferrari, or Porsche. Since we have revived the Alpine brand, we are putting in place one by one all the ingredients to make it one of the next big things in the sports car business. High position manufacturing sites, the reignition of automotive passion with Alpine entry in Formula 1, an expanding network with 40 new outlets opening in 2022, bringing the total to 240.
The international expansion of the brand with two new countries in 2022, the ambition to go beyond Europe. Finally, a new thrilling all-electric lineup coming up from 2024. Let's now kind of lift the hood and have a look at how we made Renault a competitive organization. We are already, I think, on another planet compared to the start. With the Renaulution plan, we have lowered our break-even point by 50%. This is, again, unprecedented at Renault. This year, we also achieved our best margin on variable cost in euros per unit in 10 years. This represents 1,000 additional euros per vehicle versus 2020. Finally, we have reduced our capacity by 1.2 million units since 2019, taking our plant's utilization rate at almost 100% for 2023.
Don't worry, we're not gonna go backwards. On the contrary, we are going to stick to the discipline that helped us get back on track, and we will continue the job. We keep pushing to improve our performance in every domain. Take energy efficiency, for example. We have not waited for inflation on energy prices to become a problem. We started end of 2020 as a part of our Renaulution program. We now consume 14% less energy to make a car. We know we are amongst the best in the industry, and we are on track to achieve our objective to reduce by 30% our energy consumption by 2025. Cost reduction, energy efficiency, strategic autonomy, and decarbonation, we think go hand in hand. We consume less energy, and the part of the renewable energy is actually growing.
Let me give you just two examples of, you know, flagship projects. First, thanks to our partnership with Voltalia, we'll cover up to 50% of the electricity used by our plants in France through photovoltaic energy in 2027. Second, we'll replace 65% of the gas consumption of Douai with deep geothermal energy in partnership with ENGIE. This is also pretty unique. Talking about decarbonation on the scope of the company, I want to tell you about, I think a major achievement of Renault Group, something that makes us very proud, 'cause since 2010, we have already cut our life cycle emission by 25% worldwide. This is unique in the industry.
It's the result of over a decade of investment in electrification and CO2 efficiency. It puts us on track to achieve our ambition to be carbon neutral in Europe by 2040 and worldwide by 2050. To really put an end to Renault last chapter, that meets the Resurrection, to clear up the road ahead, we just needed to do one more thing. We needed to give a fresh start to our alliance with Nissan and Mitsubishi. That's what we did with the deal that we have just announced with our partners. As I said in London 10 years, 10 days ago, you can see the deal as a three-stage rocket. On top, you have the new governance. Much more, I would say, straightforward, allowing to operate in a normal and balanced way. Comes the middle stage.
It's the philosophy of the new alliance. It's very pragmatic. Each company is free to develop its own initiatives. The others can join every time it makes sense for them. The key idea is to foster strategic agility and mutual benefit. Ampere, I think, is the best example. Renault creates it because it is the most promising and value-creating project we could dream of. We go for it, and now Nissan and Mitsubishi are jumping on the wagon because they recognize that this is a fantastic opportunity for them in the European EV and software race. The most important, actually, is the base of the rocket, the common reload projects, operational project we have agreed to execute together. I want to un-underline it very, very clearly. This is the most important thing of the deal.
These projects are having the potential to generate hundreds of millions of euros in value in the midterm in Latin America, in Europe, in India, cars, services, technology. Circular economy, this was one of the things we have been discussed. There is, I think, no limit to the thing. Now that all the planets are aligned, I think the best part of the Renaulution can start. I will tell you a little bit more in a few minutes, but I prefer to leave the stage at this point to Thierry. Thierry, the floor is yours.
Thanks, Luca. Very good morning to everyone. Before commenting our financial performance, I'd like to remind you the impact of our Russian automotive activities on our financial statements. I won't comment in detail these figures, as we already shared them with you during our H1 presentation. I just remind you that the result of discontinued operations represented on our 2022 results a non-cash loss of EUR 2.3 billion booked at the end of H1, most of it related to the impairment of the goodwill and tangible and intangible assets in the Avtovaz and Renault Russia businesses. All the figures that you will see in the rest of the presentation are compared to 2021 adjusted for Russia, and you'll see that our 2022 performance more than compensated the associated impact. Not many would have bet on it just a few months ago.
Let's start with the sales figures. Overall, 2022 has been another challenging year for the automotive industry. In this context, the group registered 2.1 million units in the year, a 5.9% decrease over 2021 at constant perimeter. In Europe, on the C segment, Renault Group sales rose 23.1% versus 2021, reaching 422,000 units. As Luca mentioned, it represented 39% of our sales and confirms the success of our offensive on this profitable segment across both Renault and Dacia brands. Let's look at the evolution by brand. Renault brand sold 1.4 million vehicles, down 9.4%, mostly due to the electronic component situation. In Europe, the brand showed significant progress in the high-value areas, the growing electrified market, the C segment, and the retail segment.
In fact, Renault is the third brand on pure EV market. The second brand on the full hybrid market in Europe. Renault achieved its retail goal with more than one out of two vehicles sold to private customers. The retail mix rose by 8 points versus 2021 to reach 51%, which is 7 points above market average. Outside of Europe, sales were stable versus 2021. They represented 43% of 2022 sales and benefited from a strong performance on its key markets, +8% in Latin America, +23% in Turkey, +11% in Morocco. Globally, Renault brand's exposure on the C segment increased 21% compared to 2021. This is driven by the successes of Arkana and Megane E-Tech.
In the meantime, in a declining market compared to 2021, Dacia recorded a 6.8% growth at 574,000 units, proving the success of its value for money positioning in a context of inflation, as well as of the new brand identity introduced in 2022. Dacia is one among very few mass market automotive brands to have enjoyed growth in Europe in 2022. Dacia launched four key models in less than 16 months, namely Sandero, Spring, and Duster in 2021, and Jogger in 2022. Each one of these models contributed to Dacia's growth significantly. The brand also reached a significant milestone by selling its 8 millionth vehicle globally since 2004. Alpine reached new sales record in 2022 with more than 3,500 units sold, up 33% compared to 2021.
This confirms the robust growth momentum that has been underway since 2021, when the Renaulution plan was announced. Driven by the launch of successful limited editions, top-of-the-range versions account for more than 2/3 of Alpine A110 sales. With the introduction of new markets, Alpine continued its international development and expanded its network with a sharp increase of 40% in number of outlets. The brand's key markets showed strong momentum with +42% in Germany, 39% in Japan, 43% in the U.K. France increased its sales by 32%. Limited editions of A110 are all a success, as Luca mentioned, and Alpine starts the year with a very strong order book. Finally, a word on our order book in Europe as a total group.
As mentioned by Luca, it stood at record levels and remains at an unusually high coverage of 3.5 months, mainly due to the commercial successes of our lineup, to the chip shortage, and also to the logistics disruptions. Robustness in our order book gives us confidence in 2023. We made some simulations with an order intake kept at - 20% versus 2019. The order book would remain above two months of sales coverage throughout the full year 2023. Now with an additional cut of 10%, meaning an order entry at - 30% versus 2019, we're now also able to remain above two months of sales for the rest of the year. On slide number 23, we show the revenue contribution by activity.
Group revenue was up 11.4% compared to 2021 at EUR 46.4 billion. At constant exchange rate, it increased by 12.4%, enough to more than offset the exit of the Russian market. Automotive revenue increased also by 11% at EUR 43.1 billion. Mobility services contribution amounted to EUR 35 million in the full year versus EUR 24 million last year. Our captive finance company, Mobilize Financial Services, posted revenues of EUR 3.2 billion, up 10.2%, mostly driven by the rise in interest rates and in average finance amount per vehicle. I'll now review the breakdown of revenue for the automotive activity.
Reading from the left-hand side of the slide, starting on fiscal year 2021, adjusted from Russia, foreign exchange was a - 1.2 points, mainly related to the devaluations of the Turkish lira and the Argentinian peso. Volume effect stood at 3.4 points, thanks to the commercial success of vehicles coupled with an improved availability of electronic components. Due to outbound logistics tensions at the end of the year, wholesales outperformed retail sales. Independent dealers' inventories therefore increased versus last year. I'll comment the inventory's dynamic in a moment. Product mix contributed roughly 3 points, mainly thanks to the successes of Megane E-Tech, launched at the end of Q2, Arkana, launched in Q2 2021, as well as the success of Jogger, launched in the first quarter. This product mix effect clearly demonstrate Renault and Dacia's brand offensive in the C segment.
The price effect was a strong positive throughout all of 2022. On a full year basis, it contributed by almost 10 points. It reflects the continuation of the group's commercial policy launched in the third quarter of 2020, focused on value over volume, as well as price increases to offset cost inflation and the optimization of our commercial discounts. It amounted to 12.1 points in H2 2022 after 7.4 points in H1. The impact of sales to partners was -1.4 points. It's mainly due to the decrease in production of diesel engines and vehicles for our partners with the end of production of Movano for Opel and Talento for Fiat in 2021. The last item, the other bucket, represented a negative contribution of 1.8 points.
Despite being partially offset by a strong after-sales performance, the negative impact is due firstly to the decline of the contribution of our own dealership network, RRG, following the disposal of branches in line with the announced strategy. Secondly, to lower sales of used cars due to their scarcity on the market. I will now comment on the group operating margin by sector. We more than doubled the group's operating profit, delivering EUR 2.6 billion in the full year, which represents 5.6% of revenue, up points versus 2021. It improved sequentially from 4.7 points in H1 to 6.4 points in H2. The automotive segment was positive EUR 1.4 billion or 3.3% of auto revenue, actually 4.2% in H2, compared to almost zero last year.
Our financing activity, Mobilize Financial Services, delivered a EUR 1.2 billion contribution. In absolute value, this is the highest operating margin ever delivered by our FinCo, proving its robustness and the value of this franchise. On the next slide, number 26, provides a sequential view of the group and auto operating margins by semester. I think the chart speaks for itself and further evidences the benefits of the group's fast transformation. Of course, we're still below some of our competitors, but this is not the end of the game. The volume effect stood at EUR 199 million. The most significant improvement in 2022, though, came from the high level of price mix enrichment, which contributed for a total of EUR 3.5 billion. H2 performance represented a positive impact of EUR 2 billion, exceeding even our H1 2022 performance.
The H2 effect was the largest incurred in one semester in mass over the last 10 years. It shows once again the strong benefit of our commercial policy. This impact includes the price increases to cover inflation. More importantly, it reflects our strategy to bridge the pricing gap versus competition, the optimization of the discount scheme of our dealer network. Crucially, the success of our lineup renewal, in particular in the C segment. Alongside this box, you can see the impact of costs, including raw material and input cost inflation. We more than offset cost headwinds thanks to pricing, mix, and productivity, both in H1 and in H2. This year, we achieved the best margin on variable cost per year in euros per unit for more than 10 years.
The impact of cost was a - EUR 2.3 billion, with H2 representing EUR 1.6 billion. The largest driver was raw material price at - EUR 1.9 billion, particularly steel, and to some extent, the increase on battery raw materials such as lithium. The purchasing effect amounted to - EUR 274 million due to inflation and tensions on electronic components, more than offsetting strong productivity gains. Manufacturing costs increased by EUR 238 million, reflecting again the strong impacts of logistics and energy inflation, partially offset by good productivity and lower amortization. In total, in addition to the EUR 1.9 billion of raw material increase, we estimate the impact of other input costs of which energy components, logistics to be close to another EUR 1 billion. R&D contribution was positive at EUR 34 million.
A limited gross spending increase year-over-year, together with lower partners' contribution, were more than compensated by higher capitalization rate, +4 points, and lower amortization. SG&A impact was -EUR 27 million and is mainly explained by the non-reconduction of 2022, partial, in 2022 of partial unemployment subsidies received in 2021. I'll comment on Mobilize Financial Services performance on the next page. To finish the analysis, the last bucket, named Others, contributed negatively by EUR 17 million, mostly due to the accounting retreatment of sales with buyback commitments. It also includes a strong performance from RRG, thanks to the implementation of the new commercial policy and our work to optimize the network, a positive after-sales contribution, and a positive impact on amortization from the IFRS 5 treatment related to the HORSE project. I'll now comment the Mobilize Financial Services performance.
Mobilize Financial Services generated EUR 18 billion of new financings, up 3.3% thanks to the 10.4% increase in average financed amount, more than offsetting the evolution of the registrations. Average performing assets improved to EUR 44.7 billion, almost stable versus 2021 level, thanks to the increasing level of new retail financings, balancing the reduction of dealer inventories on average over the year, resulting from the group's strategy aimed at optimizing network inventory levels. Net banking income was positively impacted by the focus on most profitable channels, bringing higher margins, and by the non-recurring impacts on swaps valuations, mainly coming from the interest rate increases in Europe. Cost of risk at 44 basis points remains at a very low level, both for wholesale and retail.
Overall, Mobilize Financial Services posted a record operating profit at EUR 1.2 billion, up EUR 38 million versus 2021. As a reminder, a non-cash adjustment of - EUR 0.1 billion on exposure to Russia has been booked by Mobilize Financial Services in H1 and appears on the associated companies line of Renault Group's P&L. I'll now continue down the P&L with the other operating income expenses item on slide 29, which amounted to - EUR 379 million versus - EUR 253 million a year ago. The main drivers for 2022 expenses are the following. Firstly, restructuring provisions that stood at - EUR 354 million versus - EUR 426 million in 2021. Impairments amounting to EUR 257 million versus EUR 139 million in 2021, mainly related to a Chinese facility.
These were partially offset by asset disposals for EUR 202 million in 2022. These assets disposals, like the previous year, mainly related to the sale of commercial subsidiaries of the group, branches of RRG and real estate. On net financial income and expenses, we registered a net charge of - EUR 486 million this year, compared to EUR 295 million in 2021. This deterioration is explained entirely by the impact of hyperinflation accounting in Argentina. Otherwise, the net cost of debt was stable. Regarding associated companies, Nissan's contribution in 2022 stood at EUR 526 million, compared to EUR 380 million posted in 2021. Contribution from other associates was negative at - EUR 103 million, compared to + EUR 135 million a year ago.
It mainly includes the depreciation of Renault Nissan Bank shares in Russia that I already mentioned. The net tax charge came to -EUR 533 million versus -EUR 571 million in 2021. The increase linked to the improvement of the pre-tax income was more than offset by net year-over-year one-offs. Net income from continuing operations was EUR 1.6 billion, close to three times the level achieved in full year 2021. Net income from discontinued operations amounted, as already mentioned, to -EUR 2.3 billion. Bottom line, the net profit parent share after tax came in at -EUR 338 million. Now that the analysis of the P&L is complete, I'll turn to slide 34 on the free cash flow generation.
Cash flow from operations amounted to EUR 4.8 billion, up EUR 519 million compared to 2021, reflecting the improvement in the operating performance. It includes an EUR 800 million Mobilize Financial Services dividend payment versus EUR 1 billion in 2021. Net tangible and intangible investments amounted to EUR 2.1 billion, mostly driven by a lower CapEx spend. Group net CapEx and R&D rate, excluding the impact of assets disposals, amounted to 7.4% of revenue in 2022 versus 8.6% last year, which means roughly flat in absolute value. Assets disposals contributed EUR 408 million. You can see that the net investments were way more than covered by the automotive free cash flow. Change in working capital requirements had a neutral impact. We recorded a -EUR 0.6 billion restructuring cash out in the year.
As a result, the operational free cash flow was positive by more than EUR 2.1 billion. This is the highest level in 17 years, in fact, since 2005 and the start of IFRS. The performance is even more remarkable considering the fact that it was achieved despite relatively low sales volume. The free cash flow improvement contributes ultimately to a significant improvement in our automotive financial position, as you can see on slide 35. Net financial investments and dividends amounted to -EUR 81 million. This includes a EUR 64 million positive dividend payment from Nissan and investments in new business developments. EUR 161 million of cash outflows were booked in discontinued operations.
In total, our automotive net financial position improved by EUR 1.6 billion compared to the end of last year and came back to positive territory in a significant fashion at EUR 549 million. I can tell you that as a CFO, it's an important milestone. If you turn to slide 36, global inventory stood at 480,000 units versus 336,000 units a year ago. Due to outbound logistics tensions at the end of the year, an important volume of shipments occurred very late in the year, which means that vehicles that were invoiced did not have time to reach the end customers. As a silver lining, this situation will support a strong start in invoicing and registrations in the first quarter of 2023.
The liquidity of the automotive division stood at EUR 17.7 billion on December 31st, 2022, a very comfortable level. In 2022, Renault Group made an early repayment of EUR 1 billion on the loan from a banking pool guaranteed by the French state in H1, and an additional repayment of EUR 1 billion in H2. The outstanding EUR 1 billion will be fully reimbursed by the end of 2023 at the latest. Renault SA launched two successful bond issues on the Japanese market in 2022. One in June for a total amount of EUR 560 million with a rate of 3.5% and a maturity of three years. The second one was issued for an amount of around EUR 1.4 billion with a coupon at 2.8% and a maturity in December 2026.
This later Samurai bond represents Renault Group's first ever issuance of retail bonds targeted to individuals and stands as the second-largest public offering of Samurai bonds for retail outright, and the first excluding financial institutions. As we announced during the Capital Markets Day in November, our ambitions will translate into return for our stakeholders. Thus, we communicated a clear dividend policy. As a sign of our clear step in a new era, we indicated our willingness to restore a dividend payment in 2023 for the full year 2022. We will therefore submit to the approval of our shareholders at the next general assembly a dividend of EUR 0.25 per share, payable in cash.
As we make progress towards our first priority, which is to return to investment grade rating, the dividend will gradually grow in a disciplined fashion with a goal to reach 35% of group consolidated net income per share in the midterm. Rewarding our stakeholders will occur in two ways. First, the dividend that I just mentioned. Secondly, we want to associate our employees to the performance of the company, an ambition to see their ownership grow to as much as 10% of our capital by 2030 compared to 3.8% at the end of 2022. To reach our target, we started a Renaulution Shareplan, an extensive employee shareholding program. From this first operation launched in the fourth quarter of 2022, more than 95,000 employees benefited from six free shares.
Among them, more than 40,000 have also subscribed to shares at a preferential price of EUR 22.02. The success of this employee shareholding plan is a testament to the commitment of the group's employees and their confidence in its strategic direction. Employees now hold around 4.7% of our capital. Thanks very much. Now Luca will give you the outlook for the full year.
Good. Maybe I'm gonna look at even a little bit further. Let's start with 2023. We think that as Thierry anticipated, we'll still face a relatively challenging environment. Electric component shortage, cost inflation, especially on raw materials, I think, they will continue to strongly weigh. At least that's our assumption. We'll keep on fighting and with. We'll keep on fighting also with, you know, to cope with energy prices and also logistic issues. On the other hand, we are increasingly benefiting from our lineup renewal, as I showed you before. This year, we will add to the range, you know, the EV of the Kangoo. We will introduce the new Espace in the summer, the Jogger hybrid, and also the new kind of a new, let's say, Clio.
So, what I would say a strong design of the Clio. This has always been a very important product for Renault, the bread and butter that always had impact on the volume. As we said, the order book is full. We've done the job to rightsize our capacity. I think it's gonna be tough, but we will continue in our dynamic in 2023. The group we think is probably has the potential to be an anti-cyclical player this time. We aim at achieving a 6% operating margin or more than that and over EUR 2 billion of free cash flow generation. You know, that's a target.
We will do that with the market condition that we assume will be flat in Eurasia and in Latin America and slightly growing in Europe. I think we have restructured the company. We are also ensuring the offer side. Great lineup from the team of Gilles and probably the best lineup we ever had is coming. I think then 2022 will be the year where we'll start building the future structurally. What we dream of is creating what we call a next generation automotive company. What is a next generation automotive company? Is a company designed to capture value, where car makers have been, or let's say, not only where car makers have been operating for more than a century, but all along the new emerging value chains.
Of course, we will keep the developing our traditional business. Actually, it's going to be even more competitive with HORSE and the new product. We'll start playing the new automotive sports, as I say. EV and software with Ampere, high-end EVs and racing technology with, t his is Alpine. New mobility service, this is Mobilize. Circular economy with The Future Is NEUTRAL, just to give you some. When we presented our Renaulution plan in 8th of November 2022, I heard a lot of comments about the risk of creating complexity with such an approach, you know, from analysts and media. I think that many underestimate the complexity embedded in the organization of traditional OEM after a century of history.
At Renault, when I came, I found a matrix organization with at least four dimensions: functions, regions, brands, and the alliance. Ask any thinker, he will tell you that beyond the third dimension, this is, this is the territory of metaphysics. What we're doing is that we are pushing down accountability near to the business within more compact teams that are focusing on what would really create value in the future. This is simplicity. Don't forget that we are building a layer of connected IT architecture. It will allow us to manage the Group in a very progressive manner through data, bringing fluidity, transparency, consistency everywhere in the company. This is also simplicity. This 4.0, as I call it, management tool, is something pretty unique in the industry.
We are the only ones to do that at that scale and with that level of ambition. That's also what our partners are telling us. Next generation automotive company is also about creating, you know, an organization that is open to partners and other sectors, not a company that keeps running on models taken from the past. For a long time, OEMs were tempted to delegate to suppliers looking for scale. Demand was stable. Technology was mature. We will face an environment where volatility will be the new normal, and the technology will be very evolutionary. That's why we build a system that is agile and is oriented to innovations. Working with the best partners will enable us to co-create solutions to extend our value chain coverage, share cost, combine expertise across sectors, and also boost innovation at all levels.
We have already built, I think, an impressive network, striking more than 20 partnerships since 2020. I tell you, we are not stopping here. In 2022, we took our partnership with Google and Qualcomm in the field of Software Defined Vehicle to the next level. Qualcomm is going to invest in Ampere. With Google, we could develop a car operating system based on Android Automotive. We also proceeded on our coverage of the EV value chain, partnering with Valeo for e-motors without rare earth, with STMicroelectronics and Vitesco for power electronics, with Verkor for battery supply, among many others. We are now, I think, recognized by the experts for an outstanding coverage of the EV value chain after two years of work. This horizontal approach, I think, is also key for our, what we call it, our Digital Twin.
Recently, we decided to implement, for example, SAP S/4HANA, for our finance platform. We work with Dassault Systèmes for the product development. These are only few examples. The results that we have presented today show that we are on track for our financial mid and long-term ambitions. When I look at that after what we went through, I think I can say we have demonstrated to be a very competent, reliable, and solid team. The credit goes to all of them. From now on, we will work to position Renault back again as a leading company. What we have on our plate this year to execute our plan is maybe the biggest challenge the company has ever taken. It is, in my opinion, the most sophisticated corporate reengineering plan I ever seen in my career.
I can tell you that no one at Renault is underestimating the challenge. I can tell you also that people at Renault have much more energy now. 2022 has been, I think, a turning point. The start of a new dynamic. I can feel this mindset, new mindset every day. The restored pride, the enthusiasm, the willingness to move forward. Thank you for your attention. I think it's, I'll open now to your question with Thierry. Stay with us for the Q&A, also connected.
Good morning, everyone. We now start the Q&A session, and we will start with questions from the floor. Now, Pierre-Yves Quémener from Stifel.
Hi. Good morning.
Hi.
Congrats for the numbers. THree questions if I may. On the bridge into 2023, we had an outstanding price on mixed effect in 2022, roughly +13%, which was on the revenue side of EUR 4.8 billion tailwind. How should we think of these two drivers into 2023, which of them should prevail? The next two are on capital allocation. Regarding your future dividend payment, you reinstated a symbolic dividend for the year 2022 paid in 2023. You target 35%. I appreciate that your primary goal is to return to investment grade. When should we reach that 35% level? Is it reasonable to assume that it could be as soon as 2024, for instance?
Last, regarding the future proceeds from your 28% stake in Nissan, which should be segregated into a trust and sell down when I quote, "commercially reasonable." Can shareholders expect to get a fraction of these monetized assets in time, or you will keep everything within the business? Thank you.
For the bridge, first of all, thanks for the question and good morning. For the bridge, you know, we'll continue to have favorability in mix and pricing in 2023. You know, basically, what we forecast is a continued impact of inflation, although to a lesser extent than what we expected in 2022. We also anticipate negative Forex exchange, we're quite comfortable that we'll continue to be able to offset these headwinds with further pricing and mix. I think what you will see is that as the inflation we anticipate is lower than what we expected in 2022, the pure pricing effect will be lower.
We will continue to work on the pricing, in particular in the discount structure, with the dealer network. Gradually, as the new vehicles come online, you will see an increased benefit coming from the product mix element. I mentioned this year the impact of Austral, the impact of Megane E-Tech, sorry, and Austral came very late in the year. Next year, you will have this full impact. We'll have further lift from full year of Megane E-Tech, full year of Austral, and hopefully continued performance from Arkana and from Jogger. We will also have this year the launch of the HEV version of Jogger, which should be a great addition to the portfolio. We look forward to that.
In terms of the dividend payment, I think it was important for us to mark that we had shifted into a new period. That's why we announced the dividend payment in 2023. You call it symbolic. For us, it's a sign of, you know, not only the performance of 2022, but the confidence that we've got going into 2023. However, as you say, and you're absolutely right, our priority is the investment grade. It takes a little bit of time, as you know, to restore the rating at the level that we would like to have it. I would say 2024 is probably too early to get to that level.
I anticipate at least a couple of years before we get there, at the very least. Your third part of your question was on the proceeds of Nissan potential sales. You know, I think for us, it's more a question of funding the initiatives that we've got internally at this stage. You know, we built a plan that's self-funded. We have an opportunity potentially to accelerate some of the initiatives that we have in the plan, thanks to tactical disposals of Nissan shares if the opportunity arises. That's how we'll look at it, you know, in particular, potentially on the software value chain, on the EV value chain. The goal will be that primarily.
There's no plan to do a special dividend or anything like that in the short term. The way we want to return performance from, you know, Nissan potential share proceeds would be to improve performance, and that ultimately will reward the shareholders at this stage, not through a dividend payment.
We'll now take the question from Thomas Besson, Kepler Cheuvreux.
Thank you, Philippine. I also have three questions. I'll start with a question for Luca. I mean, we've seen a step change in pricing for BEVs with Tesla moving maybe faster than many people thought, with more aggressive pricing in January. Why do you think they are doing that? Do you still see decent orders?
That's a question for them.
Do you still see decent orders for Megane E-Tech since they did that? What do you expect the combined share of Tesla and Chinese OEMs to be in Europe for BEVs in 2025? That's the first question. The second, sort of for Thierry, you overproduced partly because of these big logistic issues you faced with the industry in Q4. Can you explain us the dynamic in terms of your accounts? How much did it help or not in Q4? How much will you underproduce as a result in H1? Lastly, capitalized R&D was at EUR 49 million, CapEx and R&D at 7.2% . Could you give us an indication of where both are going?
I assume, capitalized R&D should trend down with the launch of all this pipeline, and capitalized R&D and CapEx should trend up slightly. Could you give us broadly a direction of how much it changes in 2023- 2024?
Mm-hmm.
Thank you.
Look, on the question on the pricing on Tesla and later the Chinese, it's difficult to answer, no. Why they did it. One thing I know is that if I would reduce the price of electric cars by 20%, you will bang on my head. Okay. They reduced the price of the car 20% after having increased that by 20% six months ago, and everybody is clapping their hand. I don't think it's very rational. I think we need to stabilize the pricing of electric cars at the beginning of the cycle because we are putting a lot of investment in the thing. You don't wanna create, let's say, an unhealthy business for the long term.
This is destroying value for the customer, for sure, when you do this, on residual value, etc. Of course, they are trying to get maybe with product that are not produced in Europe, under the threshold of some subsidies given by the government to boost the volume. Maybe they will do exactly the same they did six months ago and, you know, increase price again. We don't know. I hope that they continue to reduce to zeo. Yeah. We will continue to protect the value of our EV, even for our customers. I mean, the Megane is doing pretty well. We are happy with that. We have to continue. It's just the beginning. Of course, we are worried that EV market is not, like, exploding. I think it needs, i t's not a completely natural market.
It still needs support, you know, from authorities, et cetera, from us, but we can't do that. We have to do this. We have a good car. You know, we work on cost, we work on the pricing, we work on the residual value. It's, I think we have potential to continue to increase the residual because we don't push. That's our philosophy. The Chinese is a different story. They'll come from the, let's say, from the bottom, if you want. You know, when you sell 200,000 cars in your own market and you wanna dump 20,000 in another region, you can do it. Yeah? I think we are facing, as European OEMs, some form of asymmetrical competition, which we have to correct in a way or another.
I'm not an expert of, let's say, trade policies, but I kind of see that there is an asymmetrical game here that we need to correct if we want to develop the EV European industry. We are the first one that want that. Does it answer to your question?
Yeah. Thank you.
On the overproduction, you know, I wouldn't say we overproduced. I would say we undershipped. Our problem, just to be clear, is we can't produce enough cars. You know, the order book is at 3.5 months. We have over half a million cars that people are waiting for. You know, what happened is, due primarily to transportation tension at the end of the year, we were not able to ship as early as we would have liked to. We have a few tens of thousands of cars that are left in our own inventory, and then a bit more that's left in the dealer inventory. It's not gonna, you know, it's not a hurt in 2023.
It's a help in a way, because it allows us to start the first quarter with a stronger order backlog, a stronger inventory available to our customers. Whereas usually we restart the year at a relatively low point. You know, to be clear, we're not, t his is not gonna hurt in 2023. It's gonna help. Our, you know, biggest headache today is being able to ship the vehicles on time. We anticipate that it will remain a bit of a tension throughout 2023, with hopefully, you know, gradual improvement in the second half. On the R&D capitalization rate, you know, as you know, we capitalize R&D from the point where the development of the car is reasonably assured to the moment we launch it, and we start depreciating at the moment of the launch.
We've got 18 cars that are launched in the coming three years. We have a lot of cars that are coming in the phase where the capitalization is actually effective, which is why mechanically, the capitalization ratio is increasing. You know, we're at 49% today. You know, it's still a relatively low level. In the past, we've been up to 56%, 57%. I don't think we're gonna go back to that level within the period that we're looking at. Potentially a few points increase, but not a massive increase.
Some of the capital is R&D and CapEx.
On R&D and CapEx, I think, you know, you saw the proportion of R&D and CapEx, the turnover this year. It's relatively low. I think it's driven by obviously good control from a spend perspective, but also timing on CapEx. We should see some increase in both R&D and CapEx in absolute value in the year 2023, but within the range of our guidance, around 8% still.
We'll now switch with questions from the webcast. José Asumendi from JP Morgan, you can open your mic. Thanks.
Thank you very much. Congrats on the progress done so far. I hear a lot of echo. Hopefully you can hear me well. Just a couple of questions. Luca, maybe you can start off, give us an update also on where we stand on Ampere and HORSE. What are the next catalyst deadlines that you're looking to achieve maybe on a six-month view, and about especially about the Ampere IPO in the second half of the year? How do we think about the timing of it? Thierry, can you speak a little bit more around the working capital inflow opportunity on a 12-month view? As well as can you revisit a little bit more the pricing power improvement potential you have in 2023?
Okay. hola, José. Look, I think one of the thing I have to say is that HORSE and Ampere are, you know, have been thoroughly prepared for many, many months, okay? Of course, these are complex projects that now we have to put the pieces together, but it's not something that will start now. It's something where we have made a lot of decision in two years to put ourself in the condition to do that. Okay? Time-wise, HORSE will come before Ampere. Okay? We plan to activate HORSE by the summer. By the summer. We are doing internally all the steps that are necessary, putting together the organization, having, you know, understanding a little bit the carve-out. We have to redo contracts with suppliers.
I mean, it's a, it's a pretty complicated nitty-gritty, let's say, exercise, but it's moving, I would say smoothly. Also with our partner. I think is something that by the summer you'll be able to see materialized. On Ampere, kind of the same thing, but I see, you know, a couple of months, Sorry, a few months of, let's say, of time gap between the two. They will depend also on the market condition, on the things. We are right now evaluating what are the options for us. As Thierry said, we wanna go for it because it creates a really pure player and a company that is really independent.
This is also part of the story. You know why we wanna go to the market, because then you get investors involved, you have the resources, but you also feel somehow responsible of running something that is different from the rest. It needs to be like this. It needs to be an autonomous company because we wanna create a really pure EV player. We look at you know, ideally end of end of this year, let's say, but it will depend on you know, on the, on the market conditions. There's nothing spectacular. A lot of nitty-gritty work.
What I can assure you is that we will be continuing to, let's say, share with you guys, you know, all the progress because we'll have a lot of opportunities to talk about that. Probably have also, you know, a capital market day, you know, describing what we want to do. Stay tuned, but we work. We are in the kitchen right now. It's not very spectacular, but the, you know, the dishes will be very good.
The dish will be tasty. Hi, José. On, on the working capital side, since you gave me the opportunity, I take it to point out that the cash generation in 2022 was done without working capital improvement. It was done in a, in a pure fashion with EBITDA covering investment. So, you know, I think that's a positive compared to previous performances in the past. I think, you know, if you look at the working capital effect since COVID, it's been, you know, hundreds of millions of adverse because volume is constrained. We're in an industry where working capital is a resource. So ultimately, if the volume does pick up, we should see some lift from working capital.
We haven't banked on it in the 2023 guidance that we gave you because we're assuming that volume will remain relatively constrained. If volume were to pick up, this would probably be a tailwind. Now, on the pricing power, I would say from a pure pricing perspective, you know, so we'll have to offset some of the pressure that we see from foreign exchange. We'll continue to work tactically on the repositioning versus the competition. I think we're almost there, but we've got some tactical opportunities to further tweak the gap that we've got with the competition. For example, in Dacia, where a lot of ground has been covered, but we might be able to do some additional work. I think, you know, very importantly, it's gonna be on the back of new vehicles, right?
It's gonna be on the back of Megane E-Tech , of Austral. You saw the numbers that Luca gave in terms of the order intake on Austral, which is very, very encouraging. I think that'll give us an opportunity. The last thing that I wanted to mention, which is important for us and for the customers at the end. Is that the residuals are improving. You know, we gained 3.5 points of residuals in Renault, almost the same on Dacia. You know, for a customer who pays a monthly rate, this kind of is an offset, you know, to the price increases that we do. As quality improves, and you might have seen in the deck, warranty cost is going down because quality is really improving.
Residuals are improving, which gives us an opportunity from a pricing perspective also. We're pretty confident that we still have some opportunity coming into 2023.
Thank you . We now have questions from Horst Schneider, Bank of America. Please could you open your mic?
Can't hear you. We can't hear you.
You're on mute, Horst.
No.
You look great, but very silent.
You're still on mute, Horst.
I still can't hear you.
Eh?
Can you hear me now?
Yeah, it's fine.
Yes. Yes.
Okay. Thanks. Much appreciated. [audio distortion] Hey, I've got a few. First of all
Yeah. I got the sense of it because it's chopped. It makes one of that. It's actually chopped. Yeah. I mean, I think-
Okay.
I think that we really have a chances to, I believe, grow more than the market. I mean, I think we have at the lowest. You never know because we will still have, you know, some constraint. We estimate, I think this year we lost probably 300,000 cars because of the many issues. Maybe this year will be, you know, between 100,000 and 300,000. It will continue to be constrained for everybody. You know, I think we are at the lowest point. You have some products, you know, a facelift of the Clio sounds like not a big product news.
For Renault, it's always been a boost, for example, in volume, because you have millions of cars on the road. Espace is gonna be a much more, let's say, sellable car than the one we had before. Very logic, very competitive, et cetera. The Jogger with the hybrid. I mean, we, you know, what I try to explain all the time is that by end of 2023, 2024, 2025, we will have an array of products that we have never had in the history, recent history of Renault. It happens because, I remember, like, two years and a half ago, I entered the room there in the design with Gilles in July, and we actually reinvented the whole range in six weeks.
You remember? That means that we are doing everything at the same time. It cannot be that we go backwards in volume. You understand? I actually think that the issue will be for us to manage all these launches also commercially, but there is no reason why mechanically Renault should not go better, both financially but also from a volume point of view. I never gave a target of market share or volume to the teams because I don't wanna wake up the monster that was, you know, in the house before. I actually wanted always to focus on people creating value for us and for our customer, right? It worked.
I mean, we do more money with 2 million cars than what we used to do with 3.4 million, 3.5 million. It proves that it was the necessary, let's say, how do you call it, detox treatment. Now we can structurally, in a healthy way, take advantage of a wave on new product and put Renault at another level, also in terms of turnover size, profitability, et cetera. We have to deliver 2025 8%. We are 5.6%. I think I mean, it's possible, depending, but, you know. 8% we have never done, ever. Ever in the history of the company, so. I think we can do, so. I hope it answers your question.
Thank you.
We'll now take questions from George Galliers, Goldman Sachs. George, please could you open your mic?
Yeah. Good morning and apologies, I'm not allowed to turn on my camera. Just in the context of what you just mentioned, 8% obviously a very good you're targeting over 6%. Should we think about this 300 basis points being quite linear, three to five, or will there perhaps be front-end loaded or step up at the end? Second question I had was just with respect to the dividend from Mobilize. I think in the past you've suggested that the dividend in 2023 might be lower than the EUR 800 million. Given the strong performance of Mobilize in the second, is that still the case? Thank you.
On the first one, the profitability side, you wanna answer? Yeah, it's fine.
Uh, I, I-
Go ahead.
I hope I understood you. You were breaking up, George. I think the question was around the linearity of the profit improvement. I think that's probably not far from the truth, so it's kind of what we're aiming at. Hopefully that answers the question. On the dividend-
Maybe we can try to do it, as we have done so far, a bit earlier than planned. Yeah, we don't wanna do these kind of things, right? So our commitment is to do stuff quickly. So far it worked, so.
We're not slowing down, for sure.
No.
On the dividend from Mobilize, you know, for modeling purposes, we used EUR 500 million of dividend per year going forward. I think that's still the view. I mean, it's a business that requires some investment now to develop the new mobility activities, et cetera. There's no change in our perspective. You know, we built the guidance that we just gave you for 2023 with EUR 500 million of dividend.
Great. Thank you very much.
Thank you, George. We'll now switch to Steven Reitman from Société Générale . Steven, please could you open your mic? Steven? Okay, we will switch to Pushkar Tendolkar from HSBC. Pushkar, could you open your mic, please?
Hello. Hi. Hi. Good morning, Thierry. Good morning, Luca.
Hi.
I a couple of questions.
Good.
The first one is about the product mix and especially the trims. Luca, at the start you mentioned 70% high-end trim mix, a very high E-TECH mix, and also a very high retail mix. These look quite high at the moment. How do you see that developing going forward? Are we at a peak because the interest rates are going up, lease amounts are going up? That's my first question. The second one is on the inventory at the dealership level. That's quite high at the moment. Is it all because of the logistic issues? Will that get resolved in Q1 so that we have a very high retail sales growth, but a lower wholesale growth? Thank you.
Well, I can answer both, I think. I think that the target, obviously, once we have learned on how to sell, you know, richer cars, as we proved in the last two years, instead of selling, you know, white cars with 14 inches wheels to the fleets, which was also the problem, I think we need to be able to stabilize. We have an advantage is that the product novelty, we will have one of the youngest range in Europe, for sure, okay? Normally, the product novelty pushes mix up, people tend to buy. We will take advantage of that to keep the thing, you know, at the same fashion we have achieved in the last two years.
You might argue that we are doing this because we had few cars, we produced the higher spec trims. Remember that on the other side, when you have a high-spec thing, you have more semiconductors, more components, et cetera, et cetera. It was not only this, the explanation. It's a new policy. It's the policy of value. Remember that dealers are now, let's say remunerated not on volume, but on the margin that they bring and the customer satisfaction, they are incentivized to sell richer cars at Renault, which is good. I mean, it's not particularly original, but in our case it was not always the focus of the thing.
In terms of stock, I don't, I would not consider the stock is high because, you know, we're more or less we are at the level we were at the end of 2020, which was not a very easy year with what we sold. We had much worse than that in the past. If in front of that you have more than 3.5% as month, let's say, order bank, so the thing is covered, so you also have to look at this dimension. It's not on the shoulder of Renault, it's right now more in the dealers waiting for the cars to be delivered to the people that have ordered the car. We're already seeing in January the thing going down.
Actually the order bank, Fabrice know also, and then it going up. I think it's just a situation that we were forced in because everybody restarted very strong in September because components were there, and then we find out that there were no trucks, no ships, et cetera, et cetera. No ships to deliver the car, and we were always all in the same, with the same problem. But as Thierry said, we can do a very good fast start in 2023 also because we have the orders, we have the cars. Look at the thing from that perspective. 2022 is gone. We've done a good result, but this thing is actually helping us to start the year very strongly.
I remember that Renault structure has always been better in H2 than in H1. If you do an H1, a solid H1, it's gonna be good for the year.
Thank you, and, all the best for the rest of the year.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Apparently, Stephen Reitman from Société Générale is back. Stephen, could you open your mic, please?
Yes. I hope you can hear me now.
Yeah.
Two questions, please. First of all, Germany is an important market for Renault, traditionally.
Mm-hmm.
Could you comment on what's been happening with your PHEV sales there since the ending of the consumer facing subsidies on PHEVs in the German market from the beginning of this year? My second question, again, is going back to demand for the BEVs. It was already mentioned about the Tesla price cuts, and in France, Tesla is quoting February, March delivery on its vehicles, which is obviously very short. What are the wait times like at the moment for Megane E-Tech Electric? Could you comment on the production rate? We saw that you delivered 8,000 units in December. Can we take that as now as a potential run rate you might be able to achieve on a monthly basis in 2023? 72,000 units maybe a year or something like that. Just to get an idea on that.
I think I tried to answer to each one of them. I don't know if Fabrice, because there are some specific questions on the Renault brand. I mean, we actually never really pushed very hard on plug-in hybrid, okay? We have that kind of technology, especially for Captur, which actually is also a weird C segment to have a plug-in hybrid. You know, normally this is a, you know, a technology that is pretty sophisticated and put on the higher-end cars. There is no big impact of the change of, you know, regulation subsidies for plug-in hybrid in Germany. I think on the other hand, let's say we have the normal hybrid, let's say the full hybrid is picking up, as you've seen.
You have cars that where we have 60%, 70% mix of full hybrid, including the Austral, okay? That's the technology that we see more balanced. It doesn't create us a lot of issue, the change of subsidies or regulation for plug-in hybrid. On the BEV, what will be the average delivery for Megane E-Tech? Like a couple of months? Two, three months or something like this. We are in that, in that, in that space. I think that we still have a few markets to launch for the Megane E-Tech. You're not gonna trap me into volume forecast because I've learned many, many years ago not to deliver because it's a kind of lose-lose thing.
What we have to do is make sure that the Megane E-Tech electric is a profitable car and make sure that the Megane E-Tech electric stays on the podium of the most successful, let's say, EVs in Europe in its segment. That's the task. We don't want to destroy value. We wanna, you know, l aunch was good. Despite the fact that we had a very sophisticated, completely new product, I think customer satisfaction is high with all the aches of a lot of people switching from combustion engine and getting used to electric car, which is another world. I think we need to be, you know, keep working. This will not only be the only car that we do in electric, also on the same platform.
We are working on it. This is Ampere. I think, I think we have three or four years where we will have to develop this business. Yeah. Have I answered all of-
You can confirm that your dealers didn't see any major defections, people switching to canceling orders on the basis of these price cuts from competitors?
No, no.
People stuck with their orders.
You know, as I said before, I mean, you can't clap the, you know, the hands to someone that is, you know, suddenly, you know, increasing pricing 20% and then after a few months going down. Probably they entered into a loop. As they have a lot of production capacity, they enter into the loop of, you know, old school OEMs that have a pressure, you know, to fill order banks. Maybe it's an interpretation, you should ask the, to them. We don't want to get into this thing. We wanna do a quality ramp-up of our EV business, because otherwise you're gonna kill the, you know, you're gonna kill the thing into the egg.
We know what, I mean, we actually did it, you know, with the combustion cars until a few years ago. Killed our business to push. We don't wanna do it.
Thank you.
We have just the time for last question. This is from Henning Cosman, Barclays. Henning, please could you open your mic?
Yeah, good morning. Yeah, thank you for taking the question. Thanks for squeezing me in there. Luca, you just said, we won't trap you into giving a volume guidance, but I was hoping to just perhaps reconfirm or clarify a few things that were said earlier. Just on the sales or unit growth for 2023 in the context of you seeing the European market going up slightly.
Yeah
That very strong lineup of yours, of course. How are we thinking now about volume? I think Thierry said in one of his comments, it would be a tailwind or an upside if volumes were to pick up in a still constrained situation. I just wanted to clarify what that means now. Are we actually expecting flat volume as a base case? I wasn't quite sure what we sort of agree on here now on the, on the back of the call. The second question, Thierry, on the order intake, right? I appreciate your comments that now with 20% order intake down or 30% down versus 2019, you wouldn't go back to two months of order backlog, yet I think that is your target ultimately, right? You often talk about the target of two months order book and two months of inventory.
Are you sort of suggesting you're not going to reach that by the end of the year? Of course, in that context it's interesting because you had clearly higher wholesales versus retail this year. Would you expect that to reverse? In combination of the two questions, if retail was relatively flat, could wholesale volumes be negative in 2023? Thank you.
Answer because, it's so, it's too complicated for me.
I'll try to give a simple answer.
Yeah.
What we've put, you know, underlying the guidance that we gave you for 2023, there is a slight volume increase. You know, Luca mentioned, you know, European markets being flattish slightly in growth. We've got a decent amount of new product activity, so we think we have an opportunity to gain share. If there's availability of components. At the end it will boil down to supply chain issues, generally speaking. You know, on the order bank, you know, the target of two months, our ideal sweet spot is kinda have two months in order bank and two months in stock, okay. Right now we're quite imbalanced 'cause we've got 3.5 months. You know, we're not gonna complain about that from an order intake perspective.
You know, so you fill the bucket with the orders that come in, and you empty it with the shipments. The problem is the shipments. As you say, we-
Components also.
Components, yeah.
Yeah.
What I mean by shipments is our ability to ship because of availability of components. We will probably not reach the two months at the end of the year because we have an order book today which says that even with a improvement in availability of components, we still see an order book that's growing, right? It's hard to complain about it though, because it's a situation where, you know, we've got good visibility going forward. The order book is not only good in terms of quantity, it's good in terms of quality. The trim mix is good. People are opting for, you know, electrified vehicles with a high trim mix. It helps us on the financing side as well.
You know, you saw in the financials, despite decrease in registrations, the new financings are up because the FinCo also benefits from the average revenue increase per unit. For us, in a way, you know, that it's gonna be about how much, how many components we get, our ability to ship. If the components crisis gets better and volume picks up, it'll be good news for us. If it stays as it is, we'll keep working as we've been working up to now, deliver to the best of our abilities, and still the profit will be up, will be up thanks to pricing, you know, pricing and productivity. Hopefully that answers your question.
Thank you, Luca. Thank you, Thierry. This concludes our full year results presentation. Luca, maybe a final word.
Yeah, thank you to all of you. You know, thanks for coming. Thanks for connecting. I hope that, we were able to, you know, clarify all your, let's say, doubts, question. We'll be there, we'll be around, you know, this year and meet a lot of the medias and the analysts as we have I think learned to do in the last couple of years. It's always a pleasure. Thank you very much.
Thank you.