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Daimler stars: 30.2 percent fewer cars than in the same period of the previous year
Photo: REUTERS / Kai Pfaffenbach
Due to the semiconductor shortage, Daimler has to accept a significant slump in car sales.
The parent brand Mercedes-Benz delivered 428,361 cars worldwide from July to September - 30.2 percent fewer than in the same period of the previous year, as Daimler announced.
There were double-digit percentage declines in many regions, including Germany and Europe as well as China, the largest market. Despite stable global demand and strong incoming orders, the chip bottleneck has limited sales. There were also declines in light commercial vehicles and the Smart small car series. However, Mercedes was able to grow in the top models such as the S-Class and also in electric drives.
In the year to date, Mercedes has increased deliveries by 2.7 percent to 1.59 million cars. However, the lead over the previous year, which was burdened by corona lockdowns, decreased significantly after the third quarter. Daimler boss Ola Källenius had already warned of weaker sales in the second half of the year. With smart and small commercial vehicles together, there is an increase of 3.8 percent to 1.86 million vehicles from January to September.
Companies in the auto industry are currently struggling with delivery problems for electronic semiconductors because production of the chips in Asia was interrupted in several countries as a result of lockdowns or the manufacturers had switched production for other industries.
The production lines at the German car companies in Europe and China keep coming to a standstill.
Because the demand exceeds the supply and the delivery times are long, the carmakers hardly have to give discounts and on the other hand benefit from rising prices for new and used cars.
jso / dpa
