Keystone-SDA
The high-end car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz reported on Wednesday a drastic fall in its net profit in the second quarter. The performance was weighed down by sales in China and by American customs duties.
(Keystone-ATS) The German group gave a profit of 957 million euros, well below the expectations of the experts and down 68.7% over a year, he said in a statement. For the year 2025, it now provides “clearly” lower sales than last year, as well as operating margin for car sales between 4% and 6%, against 6% and 8% previously.
Experts interviewed by the Factseet financial platform tapped on higher profit at 1.52 billion euros. It is the 8th consecutive quarter in decline, after three years of spectacular profits which succeeded the health restrictions of 2020.
Turnover fell by almost 10%, to 33.15 billion euros, weighed down by a decrease in deliveries of cars of 9% worldwide. From April to June, the Stuttgart group underwent 19% of its deliveries in China, its main market, where it has long made more than a third of its sales.
In the United States, its deliveries to the concessionaires fell 12% due to the additional US customs duties that entered into force in April, which borne taxes on cars imported to 27.5%. Mercedes also mentions lower prices and costs related to savings measures.
Consequence: the operating margin of car sales plunged just 5.1% in the second quarter, compared to 7.3% in the first quarter. Without American customs duties, it would have reached 6.6%, the statement said.
From August 1, car manufacturers will only suffer 15% customs duties, like other European industrialists, thanks to an agreement between Washington and Brussels announced on Sunday. These taxes, although lower, will however cost “billions each year to German automobile companies,” said Hildegard Mueller, president of the Federation of German Automobiles VDA.
For the automotive sector, the pillar of the German economy and the country’s first industrial sector, these customs surcharge are added to an already difficult situation between increased Chinese competition and cost of the turn to electric mobility. The first European automaker Volkswagen, in difficulty, also announced last Friday, lowering its forecasts for the year due to customs duties.
