Daimler Q1 sales up 13 pct thanks to "tailwinds from China"

BERLIN, April 23 (Xinhua) -- German carmaker Daimler said on Friday that its first quarter (Q1) sales increased by 13 percent year-on-year and reached 728,600 cars.

Revenues during the period rose to 41.2 billion euros (49.7 billion U.S. dollars) while net profit recovered from the COVID-19 effect and jumped from 168 million euros in Q1 2020 to 4.4 billion euros.

"Deliveries, revenues and profits increased significantly, particularly thanks to tailwinds in China, a strong product mix and favorable pricing, supported by industrial performance enhancements and cost control," said Harald Wilhelm, chief financial officer (CFO) of Daimler.

In China, by some distance Daimler's biggest single market, the company saw a strong increase in passenger car sales, growing by 60 percent year-on-year to almost 224,000 vehicles in the first quarter. Almost 38 percent of Daimler's car sales were made in China, setting a new all-time high.

While Daimler's passenger car sales in Europe declined by four percent to around 182,000 vehicles, sales in Germany even fell by eight percent year-on-year to around 56,000 units.

Based on the assumption of a "gradual normalization of economic conditions" in the company's major markets, Daimler expects unit sales, revenues and EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) for the full fiscal year 2021 to be "significantly above the prior year's level."

While the European market was "likely to be significantly above the previous year's level," which had been "very weak" due to the coronavirus crisis, Daimler stressed that "the Chinese car market, which performed better than most other major sales markets last year, should now grow significantly this year."