Daimler Profits Plummet 56% In First Quarter - Forecast Revised

Daimler cut its 2013 profit forecast after its quarterly earnings fell 56 percent, burdened by Europe's slump and weaker Mercedes-Benz sales in China.

First-quarter earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) declined to 917 million euros ($1.2 billion) from 2.1 billion euros a year earlier, Daimler said today in a statement.

EBIT this year will fall rather than match last year's 8.1 billion euros ($10.6 billion) as previously predicted, the company said.

"In the first three months of this year, many markets developed worse than expected for economic reasons, especially western Europe," CEO Dieter Zetsche said in the statement.

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JRobUSC - 4/24/2013 1:58:41 PM

+2 Boost

Funny this would come out only days after this:

http://www.autospies.com/news/BMW-Expects-Slower-Growth-in-China-While-Audi-and-Mercedes-Benz-Expect-Continued-Strong-Demand-75741/

GermanNut - 4/24/2013 4:28:25 PM

+2 Boost

Looks like Mercedes-Benz lies about their performance in China:

"Some premium-car makers say they still aren't feeling the effects of the austerity drive, and a recent push for government officials to ride in Chinese-brand vehicles. "We are very conscious of it, but we don't see a big impact," Hubertus Troska, Daimler AG's board member responsible for China, said Saturday. Daimler owns the Mercedes-Benz brand. "Certainly we have seen more dynamic times in China, but still see decent growth," Mr. Troska said. He said he is "cautiously optimistic" about market prospects, saying he expects to sell more than 300,000 cars in China in 2015. Mercedes-Benz will add 75 dealers in China by the end of 2013 to the current 262, he said."

pmrmd - 4/24/2013 10:47:34 PM

+1 Boost

Dear Dr. Z: Ugly car designs don't sell well. Sincerely, The Aesthetically Minded