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Author | Wang Xiaojuan

Editor | Zhou Zhiyu

andBMWAfter withdrawing from the price war together,BenzIt handed in a not-so-impressive second quarter report. From this financial report, we can see that Mercedes-Benz, which has always been able to reassure investors with excellent financial reports, is also struggling to retreat in the face of fierce price wars.

On July 26, Mercedes-Benz released its financial report for the second quarter of 2024. Data showed that Mercedes-Benz's sales in the quarter were 36.74 billion euros (about 288.402 billion yuan), a slight decrease of 3.9% year-on-year.

Even more pessimistic than sales is profit.

Mercedes-Benz's earnings before interest and taxes for the quarter were 4.04 billion euros (about 31.713 billion yuan), a year-on-year decrease of 19%; net profit was 3.06 billion euros (about 24.02 billion yuan), a year-on-year decrease of 16%.

Although Mercedes-Benz still made 260 million yuan a day in the second quarter in terms of net profit, it is already a severe situation for Mercedes-Benz. In today's complex environment, making money for Mercedes-Benz will not be as easy as "breathing".

After all, Mercedes-Benz's performance has been very impressive in the past few years.

In the 2022 annual report, Mercedes-Benz's EBIT increased by 28% year-on-year, and its net profit increased by 34% to 14.8 billion euros (about 116.3 billion yuan). In total, Mercedes-Benz made a net profit of 320 million yuan a day in 2022.

However, after its best fiscal year, Mercedes-Benz, like all other car companies, was caught up in the world's new energy wave. The Chinese market, its main sales area, was hit by a storm caused by new energy car companies.

Even luxury car brands were not spared. These brands, which had dominated the luxury car market for several years, were also torn apart.NIO、Ask the worldBrands such as Toyota and Toyota have set their sights on the luxury market, redefining luxury in the new energy era and continuing to seize sales from BBA.

What’s worse is that these joint venture brands were once at a disadvantage in the fierce competition. Since the beginning of this year, traditional luxury car brands have been facing a situation where both sales and prices are not guaranteed.Mercedes-Benz C-ClassThe price of the car even dropped below 200,000 yuan, and BMW cut its prices in half, but this did not result in more sales.

In the first half of this year, Mercedes-Benz's global sales volume was 1.1686 million units, down 6% year-on-year, while Mercedes-Benz sedan sales volume was 959,700 units, down 6% year-on-year.

Although the Chinese market is still the largest market for its passenger cars, accounting for more than one-third of its sales, its current performance is not optimistic. In the first half of the year, sales in China were 341,500 vehicles, a year-on-year decrease of 9%.

The huge share also means that how to improve Mercedes-Benz’s future performance in the Chinese market is directly related to the improvement of its future financial indicators.

In the face of the current situation, Mercedes-Benz Group said that the decline in sales was mainly affected by multiple factors such as the sluggish market environment, model replacement and supply chain tension. Despite this, the group is still actively promoting electrification transformation and high-end cars.

If the situation worldwide is that demand is slowing down, the environment in the Chinese market is more complicated. Not only is public demand changing, but market competition is also more intense. Price cuts can only slow down the decline and hurt profits.

Mercedes-Benz and other luxury car brands have always been proud of their profits. In addition to the decline in the group's total profits mentioned above, the profits of the automotive department have also declined significantly. In the second quarter, Mercedes-Benz's core automotive department saw an adjusted profit decline of 27.5%.

However, Mercedes-Benz's electric vehicle sales currently account for a small proportion, with only 51,000 vehicles being pure electric vehicles, so there is still a lot of room for growth in the future.

Moreover, since the beginning of this year, Mercedes-Benz has achieved phased results in electrification.

In April, Mercedes-Benz upgraded its R&D center in Shanghai and put into use a new building. In this R&D center, R&D content covers various fields such as intelligent interconnection, electric travel, and autonomous driving.

This is also the mainstream area of ​​competition among Chinese automakers, and it is also an area that Chinese consumers can easily perceive.

In addition, Mercedes-Benz's new generation MMA platform mass-produced vehicles will be put into production at Beijing Benz from 2025, and its pure electric models also use the industry's popular 800V electrical architecture.

For Mercedes-Benz, although its earning ability and sales volume have begun to decline, it is still a giant and is far from falling.

After all, automobile is a long-cycle industry, and the capabilities accumulated in the past are still expected to be applied to broader market competition, especially global competition.