We delivered very strong revenue growth of 32% year over year, which also represents growth above 2019 levels, driven by robust and sustained consumer demand and the execution of our pricing actions.
Next, our decisive response plan to address volatile industry dynamics and broad supply constraints delivered ongoing earnings per share of $6.64, a $4.57 improvement year over year.
Ongoing EBIT margin of 11.4%, a year-over-year improvement of 640 basis points overcoming 400 basis points of cost inflation.
Additionally, we generated positive free cash flow of $769 million, led by strong earnings and the successful completion of a partial tender offer of our Whirlpool China business and the divestiture of our Turkish subsidiary.
The execution of these actions and the sustained consumer demand delivered very strong Q2 results and give us the confidence to significantly raise our guidance to approximately $26 per share.
Price and mix delivered 600 basis points of margin expansion driven by reduced promotions and the further implementation of a previously announced cost-based pricing actions.
Additionally, structural cost takeout actions, higher volumes, and ongoing cost productivity initiatives delivered 550 basis points of net cost margin improvement.
These margin benefits were partially offset by a raw material inflation, particularly steel and resins, which resulted in an unfavorable impact of 400 basis points.
Lastly, increased investment in marketing and technology and the continued impact from currency in Latin America impacted margin by a combined 100 basis points.
In North America, we delivered 22% revenue growth driven by sustained strong consumer demand in the region.
Double-digit growth in all key countries drove a fourth consecutive quarter of revenue growth above 10% in the region.
Additionally, the region delivered year-over-year EBIT improvement of $97 million led by increased revenue and strong cost take-out overcoming inflationary pressures.
Net sales increased 76% led by strong demand across Brazil and Mexico, and the continued growth of our direct-to-consumer business.
The region delivered very strong EBIT margins of 9.7% with continued robust demand and the execution of cost-based price actions, offsetting inflation and currency devaluation.
In Asia, revenue decline of 1% reflects the successful partial tender offer for our Whirlpool China business which was completed in May.
Despite this disruption, the region delivered year-over-year EBIT growth of $23 million led by pricing and cost productivity actions.
We are raising our guidance and are expecting to drive net sales growth of, approximately, 16% and EBIT margin of 10.5% plus.
Additionally, we now expect to deliver $1.7 billion in free cash flow or 7.5% of net sales, driven by higher earnings and the completed divestitures.
Excluding the impact of divestitures, we expect to deliver on our long-term goal of free cash flow at 6% of net sales.
Finally, we are significantly raising our earnings per share guidance to approximately $26, a year-over-year increase of over 40%.
We continue to expect 600 basis points of margin expansion driven by price and mix as we demonstrate the disciplined execution of our go-to-market strategy and capture the benefits of our previously announced cost-based pricing actions.
We have increased our expectation for net cost to 175 basis points as we realize further efficiencies from higher revenues and strong cost takeout initiatives.
As we closely monitor cost inflation globally, particularly in steel and resins, we continue to expect our business to be negatively impacted by about $1 billion due to peak increases to materialize in the third quarter.
Increased investments in marketing and technology and unfavorable currency, primarily in Latin America, are expected to impact the margin by 125 basis points.
Overall, based on our track record, we are confident in our ability to continue to navigate this uncertain environment, and delivered 0.5%-plus EBIT margin, representing our fourth consecutive year of margin expansion.
We have increased our North America industry expectation to 10% plus to reflect the continued demand strength.
This brings our EBIT guidance for North America to approximately 17%.
Lastly, we continue to expect to deliver strong growth and significant EBIT expansion across our international regions with each region contributing to our global EBIT margin of 10.5% plus.
We now expect to drive free cash flow of approximately $1.7 billion, an increase of $450 million.
Driven by expectations for stronger top line growth and improved EBIT margins, we increased our cash earnings guidance by $250 million.
This represents free cash flow generation of 7.5% of sales delivering above our long-term goal of 6%.
We continue to expect to invest over $1 billion in capital expenditures and research and development, highlighting our commitment to driving innovation and growth in the future.
This includes industry-leading externally recognized innovation, such as our newly launched 2-in-1 Removable Agitator in our top-load laundry machine in North America and the launch of new products in EMEA, such as our new built-in refrigerator, which is recognized as the quietest built-in fridge in the marketplace.
Next, with a clear focus on returning strong levels of cash to shareholders and a signal of our confidence in the business, we expect to increase our rate of share repurchases in the second half of 2021 to at or above $300 million.
Lastly, we repaid a $300 million maturing bond and issued our inaugural sustainability bond, focusing on actions to drive positive environmental and social impacts.

Summary:
We delivered very strong revenue growth of 32% year over year, which also represents growth above 2019 levels, driven by robust and sustained consumer demand and the execution of our pricing actions.
Next, our decisive response plan to address volatile industry dynamics and broad supply constraints delivered ongoing earnings per share of $6.64, a $4.57 improvement year over year.
We are raising our guidance and are expecting to drive net sales growth of, approximately, 16% and EBIT margin of 10.5% plus.