Daimler’s first-quarter profits jump 71% with help of Mercedes in China

2011 Mercedes-Benz S63 AMG
2011 Mercedes-Benz S63 AMG

Daimler AG, owner of Mercedes-Benz, reported a 71 percent gain in first-quarter operating profits, crediting growing wealth in China with deliveries of the Mercedes-Benz S-class sedan. Daimler reported an in crease in earnings before interest and taxes to 2.03 billion euros ($3.01 billion) from 1.19 billion euros in 2010.

Sales for Daimler increased 17 percent to 24.7 billion euros.

The company said that it expects sales of the new Mercedes-Benz C-class sedan and revamped SLK to outweigh the potential repercussions of last month’s earthquake in Japan.

First-quarter net income almost doubled to 1.18 billion euros.

“We achieved excellent earnings in the first quarter. This puts us well ahead of our planning and confirms our positive outlook for the year 2011,” stated Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars.

“We are on the right track. We want to delight our customers with fascinating products and strong brands, and we intend to continue our profitable growth. To go new ways successfully, we are building on our proven strengths: continuous innovation, new technologies and an outstanding team. We are consistently implementing this strategy,” stated Zetsche.

– By: Omar Rana

Source: Automotive News