Beside all these good news for Daimler, the company expects even higher sales in the next year although many other carmakers reduce production and cut jobs.
"It is too early to give a detailed forecast for next year, however, we also expect growth next year. The situation in China is much better than other parts of the world,” Ulrich Walker, the Daimler Northeast Asia chairman, said.
It may seem like Daimler found the perfect market strategy to avoid financial losses and to minimize the consequences of the global economic crisis: joint ventures and partnerships with Chinese companies. A few weeks ago, Daimler and Beiqi Foton, a popular brand in most Chinese provinces, signed a deal to sell trucks on the domestic market, a new move which brings Daimler closer to the Chinese customers.
A separate strategy related to China concerns the smart brand which is scheduled to arrive in China in the first months of 2009, the parent company expecting high sales of the smart models thanks to the fact that most clients are now looking for less-powerful vehicles with lower fuel consumption.
"We will continue with what we have planned with products and joint ventures. We are optimistic about greater China. People are more nervous, but China is a big market,” Ulrich explained Daimler's market strategy.
Daimler is not the only company which laughs in the face of economic crisis because Jaguar Land Rover recently announced a 198-job cut especially meant to raise the efficiency and to simplify the production process (insert ironic comment here).
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