FRANKFURT — Hovering Chinese language demand for luxurious Mercedes-Benz vehicles and better costs drove a better-than-expected revenue for Daimler within the first quarter, serving to it navigate the coronavirus disaster.
Mercedes-Benz gross sales in China hit 220,520 autos within the quarter, an increase of 60%, and outmatched the German carmaker’s efficiency in Europe the place they had been up 1.8% to 192,302.
“Favorable gross sales momentum at Mercedes-Benz Automobiles pushed by all main areas, particularly China, strongly supported the product combine and pricing within the first quarter,” Daimler AG mentioned in an announcement on Friday.
This mirrored a quickening of China’s financial restoration within the first quarter to file development of 18.3% from final yr’s deep coronavirus stoop. Unable to journey, wealthier Chinese language customers have used their disposable earnings to splash out on luxurious objects
Chinese language consumers additionally helped to show round 2020 for Daimler, with gross sales rising within the second half of the yr and offsetting weaker ends in different areas, and its German rivals BMW Volkswagen, which mentioned on Friday that its gross sales in China jumped 65% in March.
Daimler mentioned its quarterly adjusted group earnings earlier than curiosity and tax jumped to five billion euros ($6 billion) within the first three months of 2021 from 719 million euros a yr earlier than.
That was above common analyst expectations of 4 billion euros, prompting it to launch key figures per week forward of schedule. The comparable 2019 determine was 2.3 billion euros.
“The headline numbers are a formidable beat even forward of whisper numbers, however we expect many traders had been already positioned for a blow-out quarter,” UBS analysts wrote.
Daimler on Thursday unveiled the EQS, its first electrical automotive constructed on a devoted platform that’s seen as a bid to problem Tesla’s world dominance.
Daimler CEO Ola Källenius mentioned the corporate wouldn’t present forecasts for what number of EQS fashions it goals to promote, or what kind of revenue margins he anticipated the car to generate. However he mentioned he had excessive expectations for the Chinese language market, the place there’s “super demand” for the standard combustion engine S-Class mannequin.
Daimler now joins rival Volkswagen AG with a devoted electrical platform. BMW will launch a devoted platform in 2025.
Mercedes gross sales chief Britta Seeger mentioned the launch of the EQS coincides with demand for electrical autos that’s rising quicker than firm executives as soon as forecast.
“We thought by 2030 that half of our gross sales can be electrical autos” and plug-in hybrid autos, Seeger mentioned throughout a convention name. “What we at the moment see … is a stronger request of shoppers for EVs. We’re much more optimistic that this bounce is usually a little bit quicker.”
