Daimler is increasingly confident it will book a positive operating result for the Mercedes-Benz unit in the second half of the year and that September probably marked a turning point following months of downturn, chief executive Dieter Zetsche has said.
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“We’re more confident than before that we can keep our promise of achieving a positive operating result at Mercedes-Benz in the second half of the year,” Zetsche told Dow Jones Newswires at the company’s headquarters in Stuttgart.
He said its target hadn’t been set in anticipation that the division would “only earn one euro,” suggesting a solid positive result.
Mercedes-Benz’s September sales were about flat year on year and it was not known if the unit would post a slight rise or fall in full year sales.
Mercedes-Benz Cars is expected to return to profit, thanks mainly to new E-and S-class models, and Zetsche noted that the new hybrid S-Class model had accounted for about 20% of sales.
But Mercedes-Benz unit sales were down 17% year on year to 711,300 cars for the first eight months of 2009. The Mercedes-Benz brand itself posted an 18% fall to 632,700 units as demand for luxury cars contracted.
Zetsche was quoted in other media as saying Daimler was examining cooperation projects with other carmakers, especially for small and compact cars, and was optimistic the automaker would announce details of accords “within the next months”.
