autoevolution
 

Daimler Bets All on China

Enthusiastic about the month-after-month growth it is experiencing in China (and it is not the only one), German manufacturer Daimler announced it will strive to make the Chinese market a main-stream one.

Last month, Daimler recorded a 51.9 percent increase in sales in China and, even if in terms of units sold that doesn't seem that much, leaves only room for hope for the carmaker. China is already Daimler's biggest market for the new E-Klasse.

"In August we introduced the vehicle in China, which is meanwhile the world’s biggest market for the S-Klasse,”
Klaus Maier, Mercedes Benz sales and marketing vice president, said in a release in the beginning of the month.

In line with what his BMW counterparts think, Daimler's CEO believes the premium segment of the automotive industry will recover faster than the rest, bringing the company in the black for the second half of 2009.

Thanks to the fact that the manufacturer has already surpassed the goal of 4 billion euros in savings this year, additional personnel and cost cuts are no longer projected. The single unknown remains the time when the 10 percent EBIT profit margin target will be reached.

"As long as the environment is so unclear it would be dishonest to name a date. The target remains realistic, even though we have to manage two enormous challenges at the same time: the crisis on the one hand and expenditures for the preparation of a CO2-free world on the other."
If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)
About the author: Daniel Patrascu
Daniel Patrascu profile photo

Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
Full profile

 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories