Dive Brief:
- Mercedes-Benz Cars’ profit slumped in Q3, dropping 65% year over year to 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion), according to its earnings report released Oct. 25.
- The automaker blamed lower vehicle sales on a challenging market environment, particularly in China, where weak consumer sentiment combined with fierce competition.
- During the company’s earnings call, Mercedes-Benz Group CFO Harald Wilhelm said the company will look to tighten costs while also launching a “unprecedented product offensive,” to become more resilient to market volatility.
Dive Insight:
Wilhelm said that while the U.S. and Europe are stable, the world’s largest auto market has the “highest level of uncertainty.”
“We'll step up all efforts on increasing efficiencies and cost improvement across the business,” he said. “We'll extract more potential from our most desirable products.”
Among the new product lineup, the company is gearing up for the 2025 launch of the all-electric CLA coupe, the first to be designed on the Mercedes-Benz Modular Architecture platform. Wilhelm called the model a “technology spearhead” when it comes to the MB.OS, a new operating system.
The CLA will make way for a mid-sized C-Class and the electric GLC in 2026 — a model that has good momentum in China. Wilhelm also mentioned the upcoming AMG model equipped with a high-performance electric powertrain.
“Super cool EV product,” he said. “Pretty sure even the hottest V8 supporter will be excited when you have the opportunity to experience that vehicle.”
Additionally, Mercedes-Benz is planning some “very significant” mid-cycle updates in 2026, including the GLE and S-Class.
Wilhelm added that Mercedes-Benz is confident in its product portfolio.
”With this, we can serve the market in a flexible manner between ICE and EV moving forward,” he said. “This builds the foundation for the future into which we are investing heavily.”
