Overview
- This week Mercedes lowered its 2026 vehicle‑sales and group‑revenue outlook to slightly below 2025 levels following a roughly 30% fall in China deliveries.
- The group recorded a €704 million non‑cash impairment on Chinese equity investments that turned the cars division’s reported EBIT into an almost 94% year‑on‑year decline when included.
- At the group level, operating profit rose about 22% to €1.5 billion and net income increased roughly 13.5%, with financial services, vans and one‑off sale gains supporting cash generation.
- Management said it will accelerate cost and productivity measures focused on German plants while expanding production in lower‑cost Eastern Europe and raising its BEV share target to about 23–25% of car sales.
- The slump in China and stronger, lower‑cost Chinese EV rivals has prompted wider efficiency drives across the German auto sector and could lead to job cuts, longer working proposals or voluntary redundancy schemes for affected workers.