MERCEDES-BENZ REPORTS BILLIONS IN PROFIT

Mercedes-Benz Cars, the most luxurious division of Daimler AG, has posted a tidy before-tax profit of €1.314 billion (around R13.3 billion) for the second quarter of 2012. It sold 370 400 cars in the same period. That is very good news for the world’s number three premium car maker (behind BMW and Audi respectively).

“Despite the high expenses as previously announced for new products and technologies, our company was once again very profitable in the second quarter. We achieved strong growth in unit sales and revenue,” stated Dr Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars.

New cars will further boost sales and profits over the next 12 months. The new compact and hatchy A-Class has been launched in Europe and will be in Mzansi within the next few months. So will the facelifted GLK compact SUV that competes with BMW’s X3 and Audi’s Q5. Next year we’ll see the facelifted E-Class and the new GL coming through.