Audi to Pay 157 Million Euros in Workers Profit-Sharing Bonus

Despite the fact that the automotive industry is currently experiencing one of the most radical shakedowns in its history, a few companies still recorded profits last year. Audi for example confirmed an operating profit of 2.77 billion euros, up 2.5 percent from 2007, which requires the German manufacturer to pay 157 million euros in bonuses to its workers. The profit-sharing bonus for 2008 means each employee will get an average of 3,600 euros, Autonews wrote.

There are around 43,000 employees working at Audi's production facilities in Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm who are eligible for the bonus.

In contrast to Audi, some other German manufacturer, and count in here BMW and Daimler AG, decided not to pay the profit-sharing bonus for 2008 to their workers, citing the much-debated economic turmoil as the reason. Daimler would had to pay up to 224.2 million euros to its employees, but the company would decide in the next months what to do with the money, the aforementioned source noted.

Getting back to Audi, the German automaker is still running high this year, with a Q1 profit amounting to 363 million euros. And the company expects even better figures in the next months, despite that analysts are predicting a falling market for the quarters to come.

“Despite the difficult economic conditions, we are outperforming the overall market. Our Strategy 2015, which is all about sustained, profitable growth, is paying dividends in this time of crisis,” Rupert Stadler, Audi chairman of the board said in a release. “We will systematically continue our model initiative in 2009."

“This success shows that we have the right products on the market and that they are popular with customers. We are therefore continuing our model initiative at unabated speed in 2009 and investing around €2 billion in new, innovative products and efficient engines."