“From today’s perspective, assuming there is no further downturn of the world economy, we expect Mercedes-Benz Cars to achieve its targeted return on sales of 10 percent in the second half of 2012 and to maintain it as of full-year 2013,” said Dr. Dieter Zetsche.
“From today’s perspective, we expect Mercedes-Benz Cars’ EBIT in the second quarter of this year to be higher than in the first quarter.” The division’s EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) for the first quarter of 2010 amounted to €806 million.
The Chairman of the Board of Management explained that important factors in this positive business development were the sustainable progress made with the “Gofor10” efficiency program, the strong product portfolio and the good momentum of the German automotive brand.
In April 2010, Mercedes-Benz Cars already sold 12 percent more vehicles than in the same month of last year, and further substantial growth is also indicated for May and June. According to Zetsche the half-year results cannot be extrapolated to the whole 2010 year, because in the second half of this year, Mercedes-Benz Cars will spend more money on CO2-related research and development and will have higher capital expenditures for new vehicle models.
“Nonetheless, I can say that Mercedes-Benz Cars’ EBIT for the year 2010 will be at the upper end of our forecast of €2.5 billion to €3 billion,” stated Zetsche in Beijing. Dr. Zetsche also talked about the importance of the Chinese car market, also found in the fact that this was the first time Daimler organized a company event for investors and analysts in Beijing.
“China is becoming more and more important also for Daimler. This year, China has already become Mercedes-Benz Cars’ third-largest sales market after Germany and the United States,” he added.
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