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Bloomberg
Growth in Mercedes-Benz car deliveries tumbled to the lowest in a decade last year in a swift reversal from double-digit gains after sales in Europe and North America declined.
Daimler AG’s luxury brand delivered 2.31 million cars worldwide in 2018, a rise of just 0.9 percent almost entirely driven by China. The small uptick probably was still enough to leave second-biggest premium carmaker BMW AG trailing for another year, after Mercedes gained the upper hand in 2016.
Automakers had a tough second half last year. US-China trade tension escalated, prompting Daimler to warn of lower profits, while stricter emission rules in the European Union created production bottlenecks. Chief Executive Officer-designate Ola Kallenius, speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show, has little time to lose to make his mark.
Daimler’s shares have slumped some 33 percent from a year ago, adding fuel to investors urging deeper changes than a planned separation of the business into three
independent entities.