Daimler sales rising as luxury car market drives forward
GERMAN car maker Daimler is targeting earnings before interest and tax from ongoing business at last year’s level of £7.5bn as vehicle sales and revenue keep rising. Sales at Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz luxury division rose 11 per cent in March to 131,334 vehicles, extending first-quarter deliveries by 12 per cent to a record 313,902.
“Daimler is on the way to its best form,” chief executive officer Dieter Zetsche said in a speech yesterday distributed at the group’s annual general meeting in Berlin.
Mercedes, which slipped behind Volkswagen’s Audi division last year, is seeking to boost sales to more than 1.6m vehicles in 2015, Zetsche said, reaffirming previous targets.
Mercedes intends to overtake premium-market leader BMW and Audi on profitability and sales by 2020.
Daimler, also the world’s biggest truck maker, increased truck sales by about 20 per cent in the first quarter to 107,000 vehicles, with strong demand from North America offsetting declining sales in Europe and Latin America, Zetsche said.
Full-year sales may exceed last year’s level but Zetsche would not elaborate on the specific figure.