AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)02/11 Report--

German carmaker Daimler Group released its results for the fiscal year 2019 ended December 31, 2019. The results show that Daimler Group sold 3.34 million vehicles in 2019, with turnover up 3% year-on-year to 172.7 billion euros. However, net profit fell to 2.7 billion euros from 7.6 billion euros last year, down 64.5 percent from the same period last year.

Daimler issued its third profit warning for fiscal year 2019 last month, saying profit before interest and tax fell by about 50 per cent to 5.6 billion euros ($6.2 billion) in 2019 from 11.1 billion euros in the same period in 2018. The reason for the decline in profits is mainly related to the diesel car scandal, and the company's performance has also been affected by heavy investment in electric vehicles and production problems.

The "emission gate" incident began in September 2015, when Volkswagen was exposed to an emissions fraud scandal; in May 2017, Daimler Group because of the possibility of installing cheating software on its models; and in September 2019, for violating diesel vehicle emission regulations. German prosecutors imposed a fine of 870 million euros on Daimler.

In addition to the huge fines, Daimler recalled more than 770000 diesel vehicles in Europe for substandard emissions, and Daimler agreed to carry out software upgrades for millions of vehicles in Europe to reduce compensation for substandard emissions.

Daimler cut its profit forecast for 2019 because of the diesel scandal and related lawsuits. Daimler said it would seek to cut administrative and labor costs by more than 1.4 billion euros by the end of 2022 to help offset lawsuits related to diesel pollution and new technology investment.

Back in November, however, Kanglinsong, CEO of Daimler, unveiled a sustainable development plan that included cutting management positions by about 10 per cent and cutting the number of people by 1100. Media reports and the 50% increase in layoffs announced in November are enough to see the importance of reducing costs and efficiency for Daimler.

"while the 2019 results showed continued strong customer demand for our attractive products, we were not satisfied with the final earnings performance," Mr Kang said. "

Specifically, in fiscal year 2019, Mercedes-Benz passenger cars sold 2385400 vehicles, with a turnover of 93.9 billion euros; Daimler trucks sold 488500 vehicles in fiscal year 2019, with a turnover of 40.2 billion euros; Mercedes-Benz light commercial vehicles sold 438400 vehicles in fiscal year 2019, with a turnover of 14.8 billion euros; and Daimler passenger cars sold 32, 600 vehicles in fiscal year 2019, with a turnover of 4.7 billion euros.

In the Chinese market, the total sales of Mercedes-Benz and smart brands reached 702100, up 4 per cent from a year earlier, of which the Mercedes-Benz brand delivered 693500 new cars, up 6.2 per cent from a year earlier.

Daimler plans to offer an electric version of every Mercedes-Benz product by 2022; by 2030, electric models (including pure electric and plug-in hybrids) will account for more than 50% of new Mercedes-Benz sales.

In the electrified, automated and shared global car market, Daimler also produces smart pure electric cars in China with Geely and exports them to the world from China. In addition, Daimler and Geely set up a ride-hailing company called Yaoxing in 2019.

However, with the deepening of various fields, Daimler Group's expenditure on technology and R & D will also continue to increase, and for now, the reduction in Daimler Group expenditure will continue.

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