Mercedes-Benz Group AG is also not making money easily now

Author | Wang Xiaojuan

Editor | Zhou Zhiyu

After withdrawing from the price war with BMW, Mercedes-Benz handed in a not-so-bright second-quarter report. From this financial report, it can be seen that Mercedes-Benz, which has always been able to reassure investors with excellent financial reports, is also struggling to defend itself in the fierce price war.

On July 26, Mercedes-Benz released its financial report for the second quarter of 2024. The data shows that Mercedes-Benz's sales for the quarter were 36.74 billion euros (approximately RMB 288.402 billion), a slight decrease of 3.9% year-on-year.

More pessimistic than the sales figure is the profit.

Mercedes-Benz's pre-tax profit for the quarter was 4.04 billion euros (approximately RMB 31.713 billion), a 19% decrease year-on-year; net profit was 3.06 billion euros (approximately RMB 24.02 billion), a 16% decrease year-on-year.

Although from the perspective of net profit, Mercedes-Benz still earns 260 million yuan per day in the second quarter. However, for Mercedes-Benz at present, it can already be considered a severe situation. In the current complex environment, making money for Mercedes-Benz is no longer as simple as "breathing".

After all, Mercedes-Benz's performance has been very impressive in the past few years.

In the annual report of 2022, Mercedes-Benz's pre-tax profit increased by 28% year-on-year, and net profit increased by 34%, reaching 14.8 billion euros (approximately RMB 116.3 billion). Calculated, in 2022, Mercedes-Benz made a net profit of 320 million yuan per day.

However, after crossing the best financial year, Mercedes-Benz, like all other car companies, has been caught up in the global new energy wave, especially in the Chinese market, where the main sales are hit by a storm of new energy vehicles.

Even luxury car brands have not been spared, as these brands that have dominated the luxury car market for years have been challenged. Brands like Li Auto, Nio, and Aito have set their sights on the luxury market, redefining luxury in the new energy era and continuously capturing sales from BBA.

What's even worse is that in the intense competition, these joint venture brands were once at a disadvantage. This year, traditional luxury car brands are facing a situation where both sales and prices are not guaranteed, with the Mercedes-Benz C-Class even dropping below 200,000 yuan, and BMW drastically reducing prices, but this has not resulted in more sales.

In the first half of this year, Mercedes-Benz's global total sales were 1.1686 million vehicles, a 6% decrease year-on-year. Mercedes-Benz passenger car sales were 959,700 vehicles, a 6% decrease year-on-year.

Although the Chinese market is still its largest passenger car market, accounting for over one-third, the current performance is also not optimistic. In the first half of the year, sales in China were 341,500 vehicles, a 9% decrease year-on-year.

The significant market share also means that improving performance in the Chinese market directly affects Mercedes-Benz's future financial indicators.

Faced with the current situation, Mercedes-Benz Group stated that the decline in sales was mainly due to the impact of multiple factors such as a sluggish market environment, model replacements, and tight supply chains. Nevertheless, the group is still actively promoting electrification transformation and high-end vehicles If the global situation is a slowdown in demand, then the environment in the Chinese market is even more complex. Not only is consumer demand changing, but market competition is also intensifying. Lowering prices can only slow down the decline in speed, but it also hurts profits.

Mercedes-Benz, among other luxury car brands, has always been proud of its profits. In addition to the overall decline in group profits mentioned above, the profit of the automotive sector has also seen a significant decline. In the second quarter, Mercedes-Benz's core automotive sector saw a 27.5% decline in adjusted profits.

However, currently, the proportion of Mercedes-Benz's electric vehicle sales is not high, with only 51,000 units being pure electric vehicles, indicating significant room for growth in the future.

Moreover, Mercedes-Benz has made progress in electrification this year.

In April, Mercedes-Benz upgraded and opened a brand-new building at its research and development center in Shanghai. The research and development content at this center covers major areas such as intelligent connectivity, electric mobility, and autonomous driving.

This is also the mainstream area where Chinese car manufacturers compete, and it is an area that Chinese consumers are more easily aware of.

Furthermore, Mercedes-Benz's next-generation MMA platform production vehicles will be produced at Beijing Benz from 2025 onwards, with its pure electric models adopting the industry-popular 800V electrical architecture.

For Mercedes-Benz, whether in terms of profitability or sales volume, although it is starting to decline, it is still a behemoth, far from falling.

After all, the automotive industry is a long-cycle industry, and the capabilities accumulated in the past are still expected to be applied to a wider range of market competition, especially on a global scale