Merc1

Germany -- In a large open hall near the entrance of DaimlerChrysler AG's Sindelfingen plant, rows of new Mercedes-Benz C-Class cars awaited their owners.

Some customers were touring the plant, which produced 40 percent of the 1.25 million Mercedes cars sold last year. Others had lunch and drinks at an airy restaurant on the second floor. Tired overseas travelers could retire to two private rooms furnished like hotel suites.

As Mercedes began deliveries on Monday of C-Class cars to owners and dealers, managers were hoping for a repeat of the success of the brand's S-Class flagship, which went on sale 18 months ago. S-Class sales were up 84 percent in 2006 to 91,800 cars -- far ahead of its chief German rivals, the BMW 7 Series and the Audi A8.

By mid-March, Mercedes had collected 65,000 orders for the sleek C-Class. Dieter Zetsche, CEO of both Mercedes and DaimlerChrysler, is expected to provide an update Wednesday at the company's annual meeting, where management will emphasize Mercedes' recovery after two difficult years and downplay the sad breakdown of the 1998 merger of Daimler-Benz and the former Chrysler Corp.

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Curb Zone

 

Imhotep Evil

But what does it mean "poised to ride solo once again" ?!

a) dumping Chrysler ?!

(but that still leaves the Smart black hole)
or/and
b) overtaking BMW ?!

As for margins, MB more profitable, HUH, are they Porsche ?!
They're smoking what this guys ?!

10% margins, yeah, uhm, grrr, but what about free cash flow, (positive) ROI, R&D/Capital Investment, and Smart ?!
That way BMW could have 15% margins.

And what about the upcoming MB models/variants vs. BMW's and their influence on profitability ?!

... when these guys don't even know exactly what is coming ?!

Merc1

Come on guy, really. This statement:

Deutsche Bank analyst Jochen Gehrke estimates that Mercedes, which lagged BMW in profitability for years, is now more profitable.

Couldn't be more clear. The guy is estimating that MB is more profitable than BMW, it has nothing to do with Porsche, nor did they say that MB was the MOST profitable car maker around.

Going Solo, clearly means that they're poised to dump Chrysler. Gee whiz does every little thing said about Mercedes has to be critiqued to death with BMW in mind? Totally misconstrued.

M

Imhotep Evil

Thing is last time I've checked (meaning latest financial statement press releases) BMW was more profitable then MB.

Does this guy has acces/knowledge we don't ?!

Merc1

It says that he estimates that they are with the close of 2006.

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Imhotep Evil

OK, thanks for the explanation, but IMO he might as well said "hell will freeze over", now that would have been far more credible.

Mr. Mercedes

A feel good MB article for once.

There's a lot of Auto industry data and analysis were unfortunately not privy to.

It would be interesting to see what MB's profitability now truly is. Also, I hope they're making huge gains in productivity, because the last I heard was they were at least 5 years lagging behind BMW and Toyota.

Without Chyrsler...the only way would be UP!!

The Artist

wow..very nice news..i wonder if that dude is right..
lets see by the end of 07 or in 08 when MB shakes of the americans

Gullwing

Get rid of Chrysler and then put "a little" more energy into Smart to make it profitable.
Mercedes is spending a lot less on warranty repairs now then they did, 1,2,3.. years ago. Less repairs needed, and they don't pay us $h*t to fix them any more.

Hypersonic

I gave you thanks by accident ...so you're lucky this time.

What I find amazing is they continue to talk about the "Merger" while at the same time talk about Daimler selling off Chrysler. I wish they would now just drop the talk of it being a merger ...it just irritates me now.

Curb Zone