Daimler AG, the maker of Mercedes-Benz cars and trucks, aims to increase deliveries twice as fast as this year’s worldwide auto-market growth rate as the latest models of the E-Class and S-Class sedans attract buyers.
“Our global sales target for the year is ambitious but realistic,” Chief Executive Officer Dieter Zetsche said today at the annual shareholders meeting in Berlin. The sales gain includes a projected 50 per cent jump in sales of the E-Class, including sedan, wagon, coupe, and convertible versions.
Carmakers’ deliveries will increase 3 per cent to 4 per cent this year, Daimler said in February. The Stuttgart, Germany-based manufacturer is seeking to close the gap with luxury-car market leader Bayerische Motoren Werke AG while fending off efforts by Volkswagen AG’s Audi division to become the world’s biggest high-end automaker by 2015. Zetsche didn’t specify Daimler’s car-sales target for this year.
Daimler is targeting earnings before interest and taxes of at least 2.3 billion euros ($3.1 billion) this year after an Ebit loss of 1.51 billion euros in 2009.
The manufacturer stuck to a forecast today that revenue in 2010 will exceed last year’s 78.9 billion euros but be “significantly” below the 98.5 billion euros of 2008.
