Daimler Posts €1,4 million Loss in First Quarter of 2009, Sales Down 34%

Only hours after announcing that it had agreed to unload its remaining 19.9 percent stake in Chrysler LLC, Daimler published its quarterly results which saw the company that owns Mercedes-Benz posting a €1,426 million loss before interest and tax for the first quarter of 2009 versus a €1,976 million profit in the same period last year. The Group also recorded a net loss for the first quarter of the year of €1,286 million compared to a net profit of €1,332 million a year ago.

In terms of sales, Daimler sold 332,300 cars and commercial vehicles worldwide, which was 34% lower than in the same period of last year. This resulted to significant decrease in the Daimler Group's first-quarter revenue - from €24.0 billion to €18.7 billion in 2009. According to the company, when adjusted for exchange-rate effects, revenue was down by 25%.

Mercedes-Benz passenger car sales that were affected by the model changeover of the new E-Class sedan as it is one of the firm's best selling models, totaled 231,200 units, down 27.4 percent from the same period last year when the company sold 318,300 units. First-quarter revenue decreased by 27% to €9.1 billion.

The Mercedes-Benz passenger car division posted a €1,123 million loss (before interest and taxes) in the first quarter, which was significantly below the result of the prior-year quarter (€1,152 million profit).

Daimler Trucks sold 65,400 vehicles worldwide in the first quarter of 2009 (versus: 107,700 in Q1 2008), Mercedes-Benz Vans' sales sunk to 28,800 vehicles in the same period (Q1 2008: 68,600) while Daimler Buses sold 6,800 buses and chassis worldwide in the first quarter of this year (Q1 2008: 9,200).

Daimler's outlook for the rest of the year isn't any better as the German Group said that it expects its total unit sales to "decrease significantly in 2009".