Icon: enlarge
Daimler production in Sindelfingen: "Phenomenal recovery"
Photo: Marijan Murat / DPA
Who would have thought that a few months ago: After the horror period in the spring, when the auto industry practically stopped selling vehicles, business is now picking up again.
The latest example of this is Daimler - the group presented its business figures for the third quarter this Friday.
Chief Financial Officer Harald Wilhelm spoke in typical Finanzer Denglisch of a "phenomenal recovery", a great recovery, especially in the world's largest car market China.
In Europe the sales markets are still weak.
But sales of Mercedes vehicles in Germany also increased slightly in the third quarter compared to the previous year, not least because of the lower value added tax from July.
Thanks to the lavish electric premiums, the group has also sold so many vehicles with hybrid drives that it is now optimistic that it will meet the EU's CO2 targets.
And thus avoiding high fines.
Daimler's profits are also developing more strongly than expected, because CEO Ola Källenius is radically reducing costs and also relying on "margin instead of mass".
He prefers to sell SUVs and sedans instead of - like his predecessor Dieter Zetsche - serving customers with many smaller cars like the B-Class.
The return to fat cars has been criticized by environmentalists, but it is increasing profits - and is being hailed by investors.
Since the low in mid-March, Daimler shares have more than doubled.
The rival BMW also recently surprised with positive news: an increase in sales of almost 9 percent brought significantly more money into the coffers than expected in the past quarter.
The number of electric and hybrid vehicles sold rose by as much as 47 percent.
Has the industry already survived all the corona problems?
Certainly not.
2020 will be a bad year for the automotive industry; it will not be able to make up for the crash in spring despite the year-end spurt.
The industry is assuming a drop in sales of around 25 percent.
That wouldn't be nice, but it would be bearable.
Especially since premium manufacturers like Daimler want to end the year with a small profit despite the pandemic.
Measured against the fears of previous months, this is already a success story.
The astonishingly positive outlook is, however, subject to the proviso that the current second corona wave will not lead to similarly serious consequences as the first in spring, when car dealerships closed, the plants closed and international supply chains were suddenly threatened.
At the moment the parts deliveries are not at risk, says Daimler CFO Wilhelm.
And from his point of view the chances are good that it will stay that way: Even during the first wave, the supply chains were not broken and would have "worked fascinatingly".
But a key factor of uncertainty remains: the customer.
So far, Wilhelm has not seen any negative effects from the increasing number of infections.
The visitors continued to pour into the dealerships, orders and sales were stable.
But he cannot predict how long customers will really want to buy.
Icon: The mirror