Mercedes-Benz leaves Russia and sells off its shares

Created: 10/27/2022, 5:35 p.m

By: Lisa Mayerhofer

Mercedes-Benz finally turns its back on Russia and sells its remaining shares to a Russian investor.

The affected plant in Russia was only opened in 2019.

Stuttgart – According to Moscow, the car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz is selling its remaining shares in Russia to a Russian investor.

The shares in the Russian Mercedes-Benz subsidiaries went to the company Avtodom, the Ministry of Industry and Trade announced on Wednesday.

Avtodom could therefore "attract" other companies to "organize" joint production at the Yesipovo plant near Moscow.

Mercedes-Benz finally turns its back on Russia

Mercedes-Benz in Russia confirmed that the company will exit the Russian market.

The primary goal of the deal with Avtodom was to fulfill the obligations towards customers and employees of Mercedes-Benz.

There was no information on the financial side of the agreement.

In Stuttgart, board member Harald Wilhelm said the sale was still subject to official approval.

Mercedes-Benz stopped all exports to Russia and production in the country in early March.

The Jessipowo plant only opened in 2019.

Mercedes-Benz presents a solid profit in the third quarter

The carmaker released its quarterly figures on Wednesday.

From July to September, Mercedes-Benz made a profit of almost four billion euros.

Sales in the three months rose by 19 percent year-on-year to almost 40 billion euros.

For the year as a whole, the Stuttgart-based company now expects a return on sales before interest and taxes of 13 to 15 percent, adjusted for special effects, in the car division instead of the previous 12 to 14 percent, as the Dax group announced.

The results for the vans and for the entire group should also be better than previously thought.

The driver of the better prospects for 2022 is the good sales of expensive cars.

CEO Ola Källenius wants to trim the group much more towards luxury after the separation from the commercial vehicle business in order to boost returns.

In the third quarter, Mercedes had slight problems with the end customer delivery of top-end luxury models, as the company calls its most expensive and most profitable models.

However, in addition to more cars in the lower and middle segment, Mercedes also sold more top models.

According to the company, demand continues to outstrip supply.

So Mercedes has to give few discounts with long waiting times.