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Munich – Daimler’s first-quarter operating profit fell 8.5% as the car maker’s Mercedes-Benz division spent money to introduce the latest version of the E-Class sedan, its most important model.
Earnings before interest and taxes from ongoing business declined to €2.68bn ($3.03 from €2.93bn a year earlier, Stuttgart, Germany-based Daimler said on Friday in a statement. That compares with a €2.6bn average of nine analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
The figures were clouded by the disclosure late on Thursday that Daimler is cooperating with the US Department of Justice in an investigation of its emissions certification process. Scrutiny of car emission levels has grown following the Volkswagen diesel cheating scandal, and Mitsubishi Motors admitted this week that it manipulated fuel-economy tests.
Daimler forecast in early April that profit growth will revive later this year as more customers buy the new mid-size E-Class, which typically generates higher profits than Mercedes’s smaller cars. The revamped model came out in March.
Mercedes delivered 483 487 cars in the first quarter, exceeding the 478 743 sold by BMW, and its growth rate was double the gain at its Munich-based rival. If the growth continues, the Daimler unit is poised to unseat BMW as the world’s leading luxury-auto brand by sales in 2016 after taking second place from Volkswagen’s Audi marque in 2015.
The pace of growth in operating earnings will rise slightly this year, following a 37% surge to a record €13.8bn in 2015, the company said on Friday.
