Maker of Mercedes-Benz, Daimler lost USD 2.2 billion in Q2, sees signs of recovery

Daimler AG, maker of Mercedes-Benz luxury cars and Freightliner trucks, lost 1.91 billion euros (USD 2.21 billion) in the second quarter as the coronavirus outbreak slashed sales of the company's cars, vans, buses and trucks by about a third.

CEO Ola Kallenius said Thursday it had worked to preserve cash reserves during a difficult time and was seeing “the first signs of a sales recovery.”

He said there would be more efforts to cut costs because the lost sales would not be made up this year.

The profit figure compared to a loss of 1.24 billion euros in the April-June quarter last year.

Daimler suspended production in March, April and May as the pandemic and related countermeasures slowed economic activity around the world.

Vehicle sales fell 34 per cent to 542,000 from 822,000 compared to the year-ago period. Top-line revenue fell 29 per cent to 30.2 billion euros.

Kallenius said that “our net industrial liquidity is a testament to effective cost control and cash management, which we must continue to enforce. We are now seeing the first signs of a sales recovery – especially at Mercedes-Benz passenger cars, where we are experiencing strong demand for our top-end models and our electrified vehicles.”