“Our passion to create better future is part of our DNA. We know this is a very ambitious goal. But that’s exactly what our founding fathers did. And it’s time to do it again.”
New Delhi: German vehicle manufacturer Daimler is aiming to achieve a sustainable return on sales of 9 per cent in its automotive business across market and product cycles.
This is based on the returns targeted 8-10 per cent for Mercedes-Benz Cars, 8 per cent for Daimler Trucks, 9 per cent for Mercedes-Benz Vans, and 6 per cent for Daimler Buses.
Addressing the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting in Berlin, Dieter Zetsche, chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, said: “Since we invented the automobile, the world has changed. The success of the automobile has become its biggest challenge. Our task is to solve this paradox.”
“Our passion to create better future is part of our DNA. We know this is a very ambitious goal. But that’s exactly what our founding fathers did. And it’s time to do it again.”
In this context, Daimler is concentrating on five strategic areas: expanding the core business, pushing forward with the CASE topics, further developing the corporate culture, optimizing the group structure and, above all, focusing on the customer.
In this connection, Zetsche emphasized the responsibility of the automotive industry: “It is absolutely clear that we automakers are responsible for reconciling individual mobility with climate protection and clean air.”
To this end, Daimler is also adjusting its production to a mix of drive systems to allow every model to be produced on every assembly line in the next decade. By the end of this decade, four new plants in Poland, Hungary, Russia and China will be added to the global production network in order to achieve the goal.
Mercedes-Benz will offer at least one electrified version in each segment by 2022. Smart is already completely electric in North America and the changeover will take place in Europe by 2020. “At the same time, we are electrifying our vans, trucks and buses. And we have many more plans – also going beyond our products,” added Zetsche.
“The goal is to reshape individual mobility with sustainable products and innovative services. And to get there, the key to success will be intermeshing mobility concepts with drive technologies,” said Manfred Bischoff, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Daimler.
“The planned organizational realignment through Project Future will make Daimler faster, more flexible and more digital, and will thus secure its future strength.”“At Daimler, we take advantage of the opportunities that arise from change. That’s why we occupy the top spot today,” he said.
Daimler has been pushing forward with the transformation of the automotive industry for several years and is playing a key role in shaping it from the very top. “We have ambitious plans for the future as well. Daimler is undergoing the biggest transformation in its history,” Zetsche told the shareholders. “Once again we are going to demonstrate that Daimler can do more.”
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With a workforce of over 289,300 employees, the Group sold approximately 3.3 million vehicles in 2017. Revenue amounted to €164.3 billion and EBIT amounted to €14.7 billion, which is significantly higher than in the previous year. Net profit increased to the new high of €10.9 billion (€8.8 billion in 2016). Earnings per share therefore increased to €9.84 (€7.97 in 2016).
The Board of Management and the Supervisory Board proposed to the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting that the dividend be increased to €3.65 per share (€3.25), representing the highest dividend ever paid out in the company’s history. The total dividend distribution thus also increases to the record amount of €3.9 billion (€3.5 billion).