Earnings call transcript: Mercedes-Benz Q1 2024 reveals market resilience

Mercedes-Benz presented its Q1 2024 earnings, highlighting a robust financial performance despite a challenging market environment. With a market capitalization of $59.2 billion, the company reported revenues that aligned with sales evolution and maintained strong liquidity. The stock showed a modest increase of 0.26% following the earnings release, reflecting a stable investor sentiment. According to InvestingPro analysis, Mercedes-Benz is currently trading below its Fair Value, suggesting potential upside opportunity. For detailed valuation insights and more exclusive tips, check out the comprehensive Pro Research Report, available to InvestingPro subscribers.

Key Takeaways

• Mercedes-Benz’s Q1 2024 revenues were in line with sales trends.
• Free cash flow exceeded 2 billion euros, showcasing financial stability.
• The company launched new models and plans over 25 product launches by 2027.
• Mercedes-Benz maintained its luxury segment leadership in China.
• The company is preparing for potential U.S. tariff impacts.

Company Performance

Mercedes-Benz demonstrated solid performance in the first quarter of 2024, with revenues aligning with the company’s sales evolution. The average selling price reached 72,000 euros, and the company reported an EBIT of 1.8 billion euros, translating to a 7.3% return on sales. With an attractive P/E ratio of 5.31 and a significant dividend yield of 7.91%, the company continues to deliver value to shareholders. The Next Level Performance program contributed to efficiency gains of 700 million euros, reinforcing the company’s operational strength, reflected in its EBITDA of $17.3 billion for the last twelve months.

Financial Highlights

• Revenue: Aligned with sales evolution [no specific amount provided]
• EBIT: 1.8 billion euros (7.3% return on sales)
• Free cash flow: Exceeded 2 billion euros
• Net industrial liquidity: 33 billion euros

Outlook & Guidance

Mercedes-Benz anticipates a slight decline in full-year car sales compared to the previous year. The company is committed to its product launch portfolio and expects a potential 300 basis point margin impact from U.S. tariffs. The Next Level Performance program will continue to drive efficiency improvements.

Executive Commentary

"We are operating in an environment with a high level of uncertainty," said Ola Kilenius, CEO, addressing the challenges faced by the company. CFO Harald Wilhelm noted, "The tariff impact is materializing over three quarters to come," highlighting the strategic considerations in response to potential U.S. tariffs.

Risks and Challenges

• U.S. Tariffs: Potential 300 basis point margin impact could affect profitability.
• Market Conditions in China: A subdued market may impact sales growth.
• Competitive Environment: Intense competition across markets could pressure margins.
• Supply Chain Issues: Restructuring and operational adjustments may pose challenges.
• Powertrain Localization: Potential challenges in adapting production facilities.

Mercedes-Benz’s strategic focus on product innovation and operational efficiency positions it well to navigate the current market challenges. The company’s leadership in the luxury segment and commitment to electrification are expected to drive future growth. Want deeper insights into Mercedes-Benz’s valuation and growth potential? Access the complete Pro Research Report and exclusive financial metrics through InvestingPro, your gateway to professional-grade investment analysis.

Full transcript - Mercedes Benz Group AG (MBG) Q1 2025:

Conference Operator: To the global conference call of Mercedes Benz. At our customers’ request, this conference will be recorded. The replay of the conference call will also be available as an on demand audio webcast in the Investor Relations section of the Mercedes Benz website. The short introduction will be directly followed by a Q and A session.

Ola Kilenius, CEO, Mercedes-Benz: Session.

Conference Operator: Thank you for your participation. Your request to speak is registered. I would like to remind you that this telephone conference is governed by the safe harbor wording that you will find in our published results documents. Please note that our presentations contain forward looking statements that reflect management’s current views with respect to future events. Such statements are subject to many risks and uncertainties.

If the assumptions underlying any of these statements prove incorrect, then actual results may be materially different from those expressed or implied by such statements. Forward looking statements speak only to the date on which they are made. May I now hand over to Kristina Schenck, Head of Mercedes Benz Investor Relations and Treasury. Thank you very much.

Kristina Schenck, Head of Investor Relations and Treasury, Mercedes-Benz: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. This is Kristina Schenck speaking. On behalf of Mercedes Benz, I would like to welcome you on both the telephone and the Internet to our Q1 results conference call. I’m very happy to have with me today Ola Kilenius, our CEO and Harald Wilhelm, our CFO. Ola will provide a brief introduction followed by Harald, who will detail our financials.

After that, we will move directly into the Q and A session. The respective presentation can be found on the Mercedes Benz in the Investor Relations website. Now I would like to hand over to Olaf.

Ola Kilenius, CEO, Mercedes-Benz: Thank you very much, Kristina. Good morning, everybody, and welcome to this Mercedes Benz Q1 earnings call. I think everybody that is on this call knows what a dynamic environment we operate in. And considering that dynamism, we’re presenting today a solid first quarter that Harald will go into the financials here in a minute. But at the same time, we’re looking at uncertainties for the rest of the year, primarily associated with the tariff situation that we will also talk about.

Clearly, Benz as a global player, we would prefer open markets in all directions and don’t fear competition in any direction. But it’s not the environment that we’re operating in. Trade policies are shifting, and they are impacting our business. And we have put together plans and are starting to implement plans how to deal with that. More of that in a second.

If we jump to the slide with the key figures here, They’re pretty much in line with what we had said in the annual results conference and Capital Market Day a couple of months ago. So the first quarter of this year follows that trajectory. I would like to point out two figures that are important considering the environment that we’re operating in. In the first quarter, we were able to produce a free cash flow in excess of €2,000,000,000 which is healthy, which is healthy in the very competitive environment and let’s say macroeconomic environment that the world currently sees. And we have a net industrial liquidity that allows us to with a steady hand continue to implement our plans, while we are navigating through uncertainty.

So please pay attention to those two figures when you look at this whole report today. If I continue to the next slide with Mercedes Benz Cars and the key messages. What drove our Q1 performance? Yes, we had a good top end vehicle share, especially AMG performed well. We started already last year to double down even more on efficiencies, also looking at structural measures for the company where we can make the company faster, leaner, more agile.

And we can see that the work in that regard is starting to pay off with operational efficiencies, which is also something that supports the results that we’re presenting for the first quarter. But as busy as we are making sure that our company is financially resilient, I would argue we’re even busier implementing our technology and product launch portfolio. For those of you who had an opportunity to follow it, yes, we presented a month and a half ago the new CLA at the world premier event in Rome and the Chinese version of that about a week ago at the Shanghai Auto Show. And if you’re looking for a benchmark sedan electric vehicle in Europe as of today you can go into our website and order one in the configurator. I tried it last night and configured a vehicle just to see what you get.

And I can say the feedback that we have received so far makes us excited about this product. But at the same time, this is just the first one in a whole host of products that is in the pipeline 25, 20 six and 20 seven. More than 25 launches are in the pipeline. And as we’re now readying this vehicle, we were winter testing the next one kind of around the corner, which is the all electric GLC that we will present at the auto show in Munich in the fall. So

Background Noise/Transition: you can

Ola Kilenius, CEO, Mercedes-Benz: see there is one after the other. Recent new vehicle that we have just launched, a good strong seller, E Class. Yet again Mercedes sets the benchmark standard in safety. And that’s one thing that I took with me also from the Shanghai Auto Show. We let journalists and other influencers and product experts go for a test drive level two plus plus with our new CLA in very busy Shanghai traffic, introducing also what we call cooperative steering.

So the computer in the car and the human behind the wheel work hand in hand in a smooth and intuitive way. But with one thing in mind, next to the convenience that you get with these assistance systems, it’s safety. And I received so much feedback considering what’s going on in the Chinese market that Mercedes upholding this safety aspect as one of the cornerstones of our brand promise is something that is being very positively viewed. But around the corner there are more innovations. We have showed and teased steer by wire.

That’s coming already next year. As far as I know, we’re the first German manufacturer to introduce that. And I’ve driven a prototype of it many times. Some people go like, oh, can I have a yoke steering wheel? Well, if you do steer by wire, right, you can.

And unless you let the computer park your car, which is more or less going to be standard with Mercedes going forward. When you’re in situation driving at low speeds, steer by wire is an absolute game changer. It’s just one of those technologies that we’re pioneering the Mercedes way, do it right and do it safe. Next to technology and product launch, where we are fully focused on making sure that we deliver this, everything else that we said in the Capital Markets Day from the next level performance efficiency measures that I just mentioned to working on our worldwide production footprint has a new dimension now with the tariffs. We’ll get to that.

And everything else is proceeding as planned. So uncertainty volatility yes, but steadfast determination to deliver our plan and also a position and a balance sheet Herala if I may say so to see this through with a steady hand. If I jump to the next slide, I come to Vans. And I’m sure you have fresh in your memory what an incredibly successful van year we had in 2024. But the van market as a whole is not immune to what’s going on in the world.

So it’s also fair to say that the market dynamics in the van business are also a lot more challenging than maybe they were twelve months ago or eighteen months ago. In spite of those challenges, market pressure, competitive pressure, the van division has yet again in Q1 produced very healthy results. Harald will go into the details there. And sometimes the van team lives a bit in the shadow of the passenger car bigger team, which is not right. They should have their own limelight.

And the transformation that the van division is going through knowing that the cycles especially on the commercial vehicle side are longer than normally you have on passenger cars. The van team is going through the biggest technological and product change, changeover in twenty years. And we’re now starting to see the first fruits of those efforts. We presented a show car in Shanghai that we called the Vision V. When you look at the show car, maybe you think isn’t that a little bit over the top?

Yes, it is a crazy almost above S Class type level luxury in a multipurpose vehicle. But that is what Chinese customers want. Stars and starlets, captains of industries, they also drive MPVs, yes, with only two seats in the back. So you have your own living room, almost ballroom back there, laden with technology, pleasure and comfort. But that will be the top end of our portfolio for the passenger car side on vans.

We will already kick off next year with the first product in this new family. So we are now very close to finishing the job on the first product of many. And the journey the few years after that replaces the complete van portfolio, which means that towards the end of this decade, we will have both electric and combustion on the van side, a fully new lineup of everything state of the art technology. That is some heavy lifting. There’s also a lot of investment.

We talked about that in the Capital Markets Day. But it is worthwhile because this very significant business is not only growing in size, it is also a profitable business that supports our overall cash flow production. But the van people are also working on efficiencies and also restructuring. One thing that is worth mentioning there is that we have sold our business operations in Argentina to get a better utilization situation of that plant. We can still access it, but it improves overall our fixed cost position while protecting our access to the market.

So we don’t shy away on the van side either on making structural changes if they are necessary. I think I’ll stop there and let Harald take us through the financials. Harald, please.

Harald Wilhelm, CFO, Mercedes-Benz: Thank you very much, Rolle, and hello everybody. So let’s have a look on the car sales on the Page five, bit more in detail. I think it’s worthwhile to note that the top end share reached 15% in the quarter, very much supported by a good run on AMG, seventeen percent up as well as on the G Class, 18% up with full product lineup availability, including the electric G Class. And worthwhile to mention as well that in China, we could maintain the leading position in the luxury segment above RMB 1,000,000. But also, I think strong performance on the core side.

If you look on the E Class, it was more than 30% up and the GLC was a 14% increase over the year. On the entry, we basically see the impact from the phase out of the previous smart and the model transitioning in the segment. So we are recalibrating that segment with the new CLA, which will be launched in Europe in the summer followed by The U. S. And China later in the year.

Looking on the xEV side of things, the share stands at 19%. Plug ins are up 8%, mainly in The U. S. Market. On the BEST side, we see the impact of the run out of the electric smart and an overall dynamic market environment.

Obviously, the CLA to come will have an impact, I mean, later in the year and then in 2026 when we fully ramp, supported obviously by the GLC and the C Class Electrica to come in 2026, very important vectors for EV growth in the future. On the Page six, we see the key financials. The sales we talked about, the revenues are in line with the sales evolution. So we have an ASP, a healthy ASP of €72,000 And I would say on the EBIT and the cash flow evolution, we look a bit more in detail on the Page seven. So first on the EBIT walk, on the EBIT bridge in the first quarter year over year, that sits at €1,800,000,000 respectively, 7.3% return on sales.

First, on the bucket volume structure and net pricing, what is included there? Obviously, an effect from lower unit sales, a positive impact from the mix, a softer net pricing in the first quarter, measures for product enhancement, which weighed on the profitability here, but also lower contributions from used car business as well overall a lower BBAC parts by parts contribution, which you see here in that bucket. On the FX side, you see some impact from the developments of the Chinese yuan and the Korean 1 and the Turkish lira. What’s what to note, I would say, as Ola pointed out before, on the Industrial performance, we took action. So in this quarter, you see more than €700,000,000 positive impact, some material cost optimization, tailwind from raw mats, efficiencies in operations.

So yes, we can say our next level performance program is gaining traction, and you can see that already visibly in this first quarter results. The R and D bucket includes a slightly higher R and D cost due to a lower capitalization ratio in that quarter. On the cash flow evolution, Page eight. CFBIT is at €2,800,000,000 supported by a positive working capital effect of €1,200,000,000 2 impacts meaning here, higher trade payables related to higher production volume after the winter break and the two higher inventories following the typical seasonal pattern in the beginning of the year. The depreciation bucket exceeds, I mean, the investments due to a rather slow ramp up of the investment in the first quarter.

And in the Others, the typical BBAC adjustment of the equity result where we didn’t cash in the divvy yet in the first quarter. On the WANS side, in terms of the sales, Page nine, We had a very strong quarter in Q1 last year. This year, the sales reached 83,000 units. So favorable evolution on the Private WANS side was 22% up, driven by positive development in the Midsize segment. On the Commercial Van side, we reached 67,000 units in a dynamic market environment, macro end market environment with increasing competitive pressure in this segment.

Also noticeable in the quarter, the discontinuation of the Matris in The U. S. On the Best side, we stepped up by almost 60%, thanks to the availability of the e Sprinter. Page 10, you see I mean the key numbers. Sales we explained already.

Revenues are pretty resilient. And let’s have a look on that. I mean how we got there on the Page 11 in terms of profit and cash flow thereafter. So the return on sales stands at a healthy 11.6% in the quarter. Also here on the volume structure pricing bucket, we see negative volume development, but offset by a better mix or partially offset by a better mix, and with the net pricing slightly negative.

Same thing on the Industrial side, so almost €100,000,000 of improvement from the material cost as well as the absence of some prior year effects. In the adjustments, worthwhile to note, as Ola pointed out, the impact from the divestment of the operations in Argentina with impairment on the assets of $240,000,000 The total impact in 2025 will be in the order of magnitude of €400,000,000 On the cash flow side, the cash flow, the CFBIT reported and adjusted is around, I mean, 600,000,000.0. So on the working capital side, that was favorable as well from trade receivables and payables driven by the sales development, but also a higher production volume, and that has been partially offset by inventory. Seasonality. In these buckets, I mean, you also see in the depreciation here the impact from the divestment of Argentina, which I’ve just pointed out on the impairment side as well as in the Others, you have some impact related to FX impacts from this divestment.

On the Mobility side, what were the key evolutions I mean in the first quarter. The new business is still influenced by the competitive situation. In China, the acquisition margin overall continued to be in line with our target return, supporting the portfolio margin that shows a positive trend since mid-twenty twenty four. On the cost side, we were able to achieve further improvements from also ongoing commitments to drive efficiencies also at the mobility side. And at the same time, we continue to expand our charging network, our own as well with the partners by adding 60 new sites and six fifty new plugs in the quarter.

On the financials, Page 14, new business I already commented, I mean before, portfolio slightly down, EBIT evolution, Page fifteen, first quarter at close to €300,000,000 at a return on equity of 8.6%. The cost of credit risk improved, mainly driven by The U. S. And some onetime effects on the margin side volume and margin side. We had a bit of negative onetime from provisioning of The U.

K. Commission case, considering latest informations here. Some further ramp up of the charging business. The portfolio margin is flattish, but supported by the positive trend in the acquisition, as I just mentioned before, and then the efficiency on the cost side. Without the charging, maybe it was right to note the return of equity adjusted would sit at almost 10%.

If we look at the group, the business side, we explained already. So the recon, mainly negative due to a lower equity result of Daimler Truck. That you have the EBIT adjusted at 2,500,000,000 And obviously, the van adjustments impact the group booked result with €2,300,000,000 On the cash flow, same thing. Cars and vans that we explained, income taxes in the first quarter are a bit lower at minus €650,000,000 due to seasonality effects. And with this, as Ola pointed out, a strong cash flow in the first quarter of ’2 point ’4 billion which brings us to a healthy balance sheet with €33,000,000,000 on Page 18, very comfortable level to navigate through a period of uncertainty.

And we’re looking forward to the AGM next week to approve the divvy of 4.3 and also to ground authorization for further share buyback of up to 10%. So looking forward to that event next week. Now probably the part which is even more exciting and interesting is the outlook. And I think we need to spend a bit time on that to have a proper understanding. Page twenty, first, I’d like to talk about, I mean, the divisional guidances for 2025.

So please read and consider the assumptions on the top of the chart carefully as we’re navigating through an environment which is very dynamic with an exceptionally high level of volatility. We would like to look at the underlying business in the first place before considering any additional tariffs, which were announced since the March. And maybe just to say at this stage, by doing so, we can confirm, I mean, all the KPIs, which we outlined in the full year guidance. But let’s have a deeper look into that, starting with the car side on the sales guidance. In February, we said we would take a cautious view for 2025.

And I think, I mean, that proved to be right as we continue to see a situation in China, which on the macro side is still subdued. And we see an ongoing competitive market environment, I mean, in China at this point of the year and also moving forward. In Europe, we see a robust sales performance with a good level of, I mean, order intake at a healthy level and an order reach into the third quarter. On The U. S.

Side, we also see a solid momentum with a stable underlying customer demand. The year on year group sales, we see a bit lower, in particular, on the second quarter. However,

Ola Kilenius, CEO, Mercedes-Benz: all

Harald Wilhelm, CFO, Mercedes-Benz: of that moving forward is very much dependent on The U. S. Trade policy situation and the impact on market demand. Overall, with this, we continue to see the car sales to be slightly below prior year. The XEV share confirmed at 20% to 22%.

And again, before direct and indirect impacts from the tariff policies, we would see the return on sales adjusted between 68% for Cars and equally for the cash conversion rate. No change to PPE and the R and D side. On the Vans side, on sales, we continue to see sales slightly below prior year due to flat markets with intense competition, the XEV share unchanged. And we would also see the return on sales adjusted unchanged between 1012%. Equally, the cash conversion rate before the tariff impacts.

No change to PPE and R and D as well. And on the Mobility side, we would also see the guidance at 8% to 9% for the return on equity with a charging impact, which is approximately 150 basis points mean for the full year, so which means we’re closer to the 10%. Now considering the tariffs on Page 21, as I said before, on the Cars, we would see the underlying car margin at 6% to 8% as guided for in the full year and as you can also see with the first quarter results. In case, however, all of the newly announced tariffs remain effective and stay unchanged until the end of the year, we would see some material impacts. And let me outline the key lags where they would hit.

First, I mean, it is the imports from Europe into The U. S. That affects mainly vehicles like the GLC, the G Class or the S Class. Second, it is the lag in terms of the exports from The U. S.

To China, which impacts chiefly the GLE and the GLS. And then third, it is a lag in terms of supply for Mexico to U. S. On parts, which plays here, I mean, the biggest role. Even so, this is only on the USMCA nonexempted parts on top the GLB deliveries from Mexico to The U.

S. Are impacted. What does it mean or what would that mean for the Cars margin? So again, if these tariffs, I mean, would persist for the remainder of the year, the full year impact is around 300 basis points on return on sales for Cars. For the Vans margin, without repeating everything I mean before, that impact would be in the order of magnitude of up to 200 basis points on the return of sales of Vans.

Be aware, however, that I mean the impacts I just articulated are full year impacts. So this means that the tariff impact is materializing over three quarters to come if they would continue to persist. And therefore, the impact in the quarter is at a higher level. These impacts I mentioned before also include some technical mitigation measures such as pre stocking. The cash conversion rate might also be affected.

Indirect effects or collateral consequences on markets, consumer sentiment, demand and sales are currently difficult to predict. And as we can also see with the announcement last night, further evolution of trade policy, respective direct and indirect effects as well as mitigation measures are so volatile that an accurate full year guidance based on today’s knowledge cannot be reliably provided with the necessary level of certainty. What does it mean for the group guidance? Page 22. So following the same logic as for the segment guidance, considering, I mean, the tariffs, the group KPIs would also be impacted respectively.

So group EBIT and group cash flow would be expected lower than before in case tariffs persist until end of year. Looking at second quarter free cash flow, it is to be expected to deteriorate. I mean the cash flow is expected to deteriorate materially versus the first quarter considering, I mean, these tariff impacts as well as the seasonal positive working capital effect in the quarter one, which I emphasized before. And I hope that gave you some color on this topic. And with this, I hand back to you Ola.

Ola Kilenius, CEO, Mercedes-Benz: So thank you, Harald. As you have just heard from Harald, we’re operating in an environment with a high level of uncertainty. In such an environment, you have to make sure that you can react with the levers that are available to you in the short, mid and long term. And that is what we’re doing. But it creates a level of uncertainty that we cannot say for sure exactly how those three quarters that are coming towards us will play out.

I can say this though that with a high level of speed we’re acting on all of these levers. Discussions on the regulatory side and we can Harald just mentioned it, see that that space remains dynamic and maybe there can be changes, but we cannot bank on them. And that is why we have made the guidance choice that we have made. But also if we look a little bit into the longer future in the next three, four, five years, what does it mean if the world goes more regional? You have to follow that trend.

And that is what we’re preparing as well. It’s not like we have not been following this trend. In fact, for more than thirty years now, we have been building our global production network. And we have sizable operations in The United States. We have been in The United States for more than one hundred and twenty years, employed directly more than 11,000 people and indirectly 150,000 people.

So we feel also like an American company. But it’s also true to say, and I think Harald illustrated that quite clearly, that we are an export champion in all directions, into The United States, out of The United States, out of The United States to 150 countries around the world and from different countries into The United States. So this does have a material impact on our business. We will now carefully look at our production footprint, our localization footprint, be it models, components or other things to adjust this business system over time. But I have to emphasize over time because you don’t do these things overnight.

So it takes some years to get to the other side. That is why, as I mentioned at the beginning of the presentation today, it is so important that you start this journey, partially then new journey compared to what we had before. And from a position of strength and that you have the financial firepower to see through your game plan. So on the innovation, technology, product launch side, whereas we are always careful, we pinch pennies, we don’t throw money into projects that wouldn’t lead to market success, of course not. We are in a very steadfast way going to deliver the product program that we presented to you in the Capital Markets Day in February.

Even more important now, it was important before, but it becomes even more important now is the next level performance initiative to work on efficiencies, to work on structural measures, to lean down and slim down your organization to become faster. All of those activities will continue with unchanged intensity, maybe even more intensity. So what does that mean in the end also for our shareholders? If you have this view of financial resilience, but also determination to see your plan through, I want to reiterate and underline that we remain committed to our capital allocation framework. That is what we are operating under.

With regard to share buybacks that we will take now to the Annual Shareholders Meeting again, of course, we will as we have said all the time and we introduced the cash flow policy, we will make sure that that is synchronized with the free cash flow generation. And I think that is very important. So the phasing and timing of it is synchronized with free cash flow generation. The policy as such remains. Before you ask it, the Daimler truck stake sales as was announced also in the Capital Markets Day is strategically on the agenda.

I would say that the current market environment maybe right now is not supportive to do this on Monday morning. But we have it on the radar and we will decide on timing when we think that it is opportune. So to have a healthy balance sheet that we have built up over the many years gives us a position of strength to execute in a dynamic environment that I have to say I probably haven’t seen in my thirty two years in the company. But we are going to as I mentioned with a steady hand take the measures that is necessary to navigate through this period as well. I think that concludes our presentation.

And I will hand back over to you, Kristina.

Kristina Schenck, Head of Investor Relations and Treasury, Mercedes-Benz: Thank you, Ola. Thank you, Harald. Ladies and gentlemen, you may now ask your questions. I will identify the questioner by name. However, please also introduce yourself with your name and the name of the organization that you’re representing before asking your question.

A few practical points as usual, please ask your question in English. And as a matter of fairness, please limit the number of questions to a maximum of two. Now before we start, the operator will explain the procedure.

Background Noise/Transition: You.

Kristina Schenck, Head of Investor Relations and Treasury, Mercedes-Benz: We start the Q and A. And the first question, I would hand over to Jose Asumendi from JPMorgan.

Jose Asumendi, Analyst, JPMorgan: Good morning. It’s Jose from JPMorgan. A couple of questions please. Maybe Ola, look, I would love to get a bit more sense of the discussions please with The U. S.

Authorities. And I’m aware there’s so much you can say also as obviously negotiations maybe still going on. But in simple terms, what are they looking to achieve in the tariffs? And are the negotiations done on an OEM by OEM basis? What can you offer in The U.

S. When it comes to engines, transmissions or assembly of vehicles? And also I’d love to understand also do they value or appreciate the work you’re doing in The U. S. When it comes to building cars and providing employment?

And then follow-up by the second question please on China. Harald, I would love to get a bit more sense on the contribution from BBSE on the profit bridge and whether the capacity adjustments you’re planning in China, whether that has been already been reflected in the first quarter or that improvement should be maybe seen in Q2 or the second half of the year? Thank you.

Ola Kilenius, CEO, Mercedes-Benz: I will start with The U. S. Question. As I mentioned in the presentation, we have been in The United States for more than one hundred and twenty years. We have invested tens of billions into our operations there, mainly in Alabama and in South Carolina as far as production is concerned.

But we are in more than a dozen states, have a deep R and D presence in The United States, operate almost 400 some of our partners with dealerships that them alone employ 30,000 people. So I think it’s very much appreciated that Mercedes Benz is also an American company. And there is no question that for the largest economy in the world, we have a plan forward to grow in that market. Now the tariff situation throws a twist into this whole picture. And we are as I mentioned looking at plans how to in the next years further expand our footprint in The United States.

And yes, we are also speaking to officials in the administration about this. What I would not like to do on this call is to go into the detail of such talks. They’re being held in a constructive atmosphere. And our mindset going into those talks is to say what can we do that is positive for The United States, but also positive for our business model. So those discussions are ongoing.

And if there are significant or material changes, I’m sure that they will be made public. But at this stage, I would not like to go into the details of those discussions.

Harald Wilhelm, CFO, Mercedes-Benz: And Jose, on your second question on China, in the bridge, I mean, what I’ve commented before, basically, we can see that we had a lower level of supply of parts by parts, I mean, to China, whereas obviously the BBC result, I mean, is in the other bucket. And I mean, that is running at a bit of lower level. However, I can say all of the measures we talked about in the Capital Market Day in February are active. And BBC management is working hard, I mean, to drive the efficiencies also at the BBC level, adjust capacity to the market demand, bring forward I mean the fixed cost saving, the productivity gains in operations and supply chain and therefore protecting a healthy level of profitability in the BBAC in the first quarter, which is incorporated in these numbers.

Background Noise/Transition: Thank you.

Kristina Schenck, Head of Investor Relations and Treasury, Mercedes-Benz: Okay. Thank you, Jose. I’m moving on to Tim Rokossa from Deutsche Bank.

Background Noise/Transition: Thank you. Good morning. It’s Tim. I have two questions, please. The first one is also Ola, I think following up basically on what Jose just asked.

Can you help us to provide some sort of idea of how you can mitigate this impact S. In the short term? How extreme would you do the mix management? Do you go to a level where you basically only import the G Wagon and the S Class?

Can you increase prices for all of your cars? Is there any at least vague ideas that you’re willing to share with us already today? And then secondly, maybe reverting the questions also to something that’s a little bit more positive. We’re noticing decent environment in Europe. Harald, you also mentioned that.

We’re seeing that in the VW order intake as well. Is that something that you think is a sustainable trend? What do you think is driving it? Any sort of feeling for the European consumer? Thank you.

Ola Kilenius, CEO, Mercedes-Benz: So Tim, one thing that we said in the presentation was that you can calculate the crude effects of what the tariffs mean mathematically. What is more difficult to calculate is the impact on the market behavior because the tariff system is affecting the market participants in an asymmetric way to make those predictions are even more difficult. Whereas I don’t want to in an analyst call go in and give you the detailed strategies on our go to market product allocation and pricing as you can understand. You can also rest assured that we very much understand how to use those levers. And we will.

And we have and I want to underline that again, we have sizable operations in The United States where we make our large SUVs, the GLE, the GLS, the EQE and EQS. So in that asymmetric game, we have some assets there. But in the short term, you have to look at all of the above. Maybe what you I think should refrain from especially in a situation that is this uncertain is to take too drastic of an action too soon, because that can affect your market participation later on. So I think you have to also exercise a level of strategic patience here even if it affects you financially as Harald illustrated.

But all levers are being looked at. And in the midterm, mid to longer term, it’s more about the overall footprint in the world, what does that production footprint and supply footprint look like. But that is something that takes years to implement.

Harald Wilhelm, CFO, Mercedes-Benz: And Tim, on your question on Europe, yes, we see I mean, if I we commented on sales, I mean, before. But if I look also on the order intake in Europe, I mean, in the first quarter, I think this is running at a decent level. We all know that. I mean, The U. K, you always have a bit of a seasonal peak, I mean, in March.

But even considering that one, I think that sits at a healthy level. How can we explain that? I think it’s chiefly, I mean, the product portfolio, which is gaining a lot of good attraction on E Class, on GLC. And as Ola said before, we’re pretty sure that now with this super attractive CLA product coming to market in Europe in summer, we’ll gain some further momentum in the second half of the year and then looking into the GLC and also the C Class electric for next year. So I think it’s really mean the product firework, I mean, which builds the curve here.

For sure, we need to make sure that we’re competitive. I mean also when it comes to the pricing side, action have been taken in this respect, and we see the benefits of that coming through the quarter sales, but also in the outlook as we just commented before here.

Background Noise/Transition: Thank you.

Kristina Schenck, Head of Investor Relations and Treasury, Mercedes-Benz: Thank you, Tim. I’m moving over to Patrick Grummel from UBS.

Tim Rokossa, Analyst, Deutsche Bank: Thank you, Kristina, and good morning, everyone. Two questions also for me. The first one, BMW was talking about using their flexibility in The U. S. Capacity and maybe redirect demand a little bit away from sedans towards SUVs.

And I’m just wondering, what your flexibility in Tuscaloosa looks like as far as current utilization rates are concerned. How much could you increase output there of the SUVs and maybe try to sell more GLEs rather than E Classes? And would you say that is a material potential offset or material mitigation against the 300 basis points headwinds that you were talking about And my second question, GLE and GLS for China. Can you comment at least qualitatively to which extent you’re covered for the year in terms of vehicles that you already have in China?

Because I would assume this is a very profitable product still for the Chinese market and with the current import tariff situation, it doesn’t make any sense to ship anything from The U. S. To China. So I’m just wondering, will we see later in the year some negative impact here from shrinking GLSGLE sales in China? Or can you maintain that run rate with the stock levels you have?

Ola Kilenius, CEO, Mercedes-Benz: Patrick, I’ll start with the first one and hand the second one to Harald. Yes, we have flexibility in the Alabama plant for the SUVs that we build there. And if we can create market momentum or market shift like you suggested, yes, we would do that and yes, we can do that. What kind of an impact that would have? That is also wholly down to the overall market dynamics, which really is very, very difficult to predict at this point in time.

But yes, the flexibility at least is there.

Harald Wilhelm, CFO, Mercedes-Benz: And Patrick, with regard to the second question, yes, I mean, we do have inventory on GLE and GLS in China, which takes us well, I think, into the second quarter. For sure, at the point, I mean, later in the year,

Philippe Bouchois, Analyst, Jefferies: I mean,

Harald Wilhelm, CFO, Mercedes-Benz: vehicles coming to China would be exposed to these prohibitive levels, I mean, of tariffs. Any impact, I mean, on that one, we included in this 300 basis points adjustment in terms of tariff risk, I mentioned before. But I think globally, I don’t want to comment too much on macro, but if this level of tariffs would persist, I think we would see other evolutions in industry and markets far beyond that. So I think we can navigate through the second quarter and then we’ll watch obviously very carefully the evolution on this super prohibitive level of tariffs.

Tim Rokossa, Analyst, Deutsche Bank: And Harald, if you allow me a follow-up. With that 300 basis points quantification, we understand this is before mitigation and you’re not going to talk about pricing here too much in detail. Would you say that 300 basis points should also be kind of a base case if the tariffs don’t change, what we will see actually as an outcome? Or are you very confident that the net impact of all of this net of the mitigation that you would be planning to do would be smaller than the 300 basis points for the calendar year?

Harald Wilhelm, CFO, Mercedes-Benz: Well, I think we give already quite a lot of color here. The 300 basis points, I mean, number one assumes, I mean, the current set of tariff policies, I mean, decided and communicated. The ones from last night, I mean, we need to assess a bit in detail. But I mean, globally, this is based on what has been decided post March 11, I think. Number two, it takes into account the inventories, which are in the respective countries in The U.

S. And China, as I just commented before, and a few mitigation actions, not, I mean, an entire set. And it would assume, I mean, this tariffs to persist for the remainder of the year. So that is what is included in it including the prohibitive ones on China as commented just before.

Tim Rokossa, Analyst, Deutsche Bank: That’s helpful. Thank you both.

Kristina Schenck, Head of Investor Relations and Treasury, Mercedes-Benz: Thank you, Patrick. We’re moving on to Philippe Bouchois from Jefferies.

Philippe Bouchois, Analyst, Jefferies: Yes, good morning. It’s Philippe Bouchois, Jefferies. Thanks for taking my questions. I have two, if I can. The first is maybe, Harald, could you just again confirm the 300 basis point you talked about is before mitigation because I’m hearing a different comment from someone else right now?

And the second maybe more for Ola. I’m just trying to think when we think about I mean, you’ve rightly explained you’ve worked on your global footprint. You’ve made things more efficient. The issue is still that a lot of the content that you import in North America is powertrain related and largely ICE related. And I’m just trying to understand how difficult it is near term, maybe longer term also, is to shift more of that content of engines to The U.

S, shift out of Europe engine blocks without unfinished and finish them more into The U. S. And shift that content. And if I take it one step further is we’re looking at a world where Europe is trying to kill ICE, the U. S.

Is not trying to kill ICE, neither is China. Should you consider over time to just move your engine, powertrain or ICE capabilities to North America because it makes sense for the next twenty years versus Europe? Thank you.

Harald Wilhelm, CFO, Mercedes-Benz: Yes. Philippe, on the question of the 300 basis points, I think again inventory is included. If you consider that as a mitigation, some very preliminary measures are included. Anything going beyond that from discussions, as Ola commented before, from further, I mean, localization, industrialization actions are not included in that. On the other side, let me please remind you as well, as I commented before, that the 300 basis points impact is a full year impact and the impact on the quarters is going to be higher respectively.

Ola Kilenius, CEO, Mercedes-Benz: And maybe to add to that and I think that was my answer to Tim or Costas. Of course, we are fully aware of every single lever that is available to you in the short term, but also in the longer term and I’ll get to that. That’s the second part of your question. But I think we should all be mindful that you can just not just push a button and say, okay, I have a tariff, let’s just raise the price and everything stays the same. That’s not how market economy works, especially in an asymmetric market situation.

So I would not be if I were in your shoes too casual about thinking about that. That requires some very deep thought. So just to add to what Harald said, If you talk about an industrial footprint, in the flows of goods of cars and parts that was mentioned in Harald’s presentation, he made it quite clear that the major part of those flows of course, the fully built vehicles. So that is that’s the number one thing that is included in this effect on our business model. But yes, the parts also matter because there are tariffs on parts as well.

There was some transient relief suggested yesterday that we are calculating. But it is something that you have to take into the equation. So looking at the parts, we are going through and have been going through every single component in the car that is not already in The United States and looking at what you can do in the, let’s say, medium, mid term to long term. Powertrain is one area where you can do that. And setting up assembly is something that can happen faster.

Deep localization where you go into the complete components with castings and forgings and so on and so forth, that is a longer endeavor. And there you also have to look at part by part what you end up with in terms of scale on the other side compared to the scale that you have in your original production site and what’s the cost difference of that. So this is also a very detailed, very rational economical exercise, not a push on the button type of exercise. The internal combustion engine industrial structures that we have built up in Europe over more than one hundred years to move them quickly to two other economic regions, I would say, is probably prohibitive from a capital spending point of view. So a drastic scenario like that in the midterm is not on the cards.

And I don’t want to turn this into a policy speech, but in the automotive strategic dialogue that is going on between the auto industry and the EU on the path towards 02/1935 in my role as President of ASEA this year, I think all of the manufacturers and first and foremost all of the many thousands of suppliers has made it very clear that we need a pragmatic and flexible path towards decarbonization. Those discussions continue. And I think there is much to learn from some of the policies that China has applied in this regard that allow flexibility, while at the same time successfully decarbonize. So I’m hoping and hopeful that in light of Europe’s current economic situation and competitiveness situation as was mentioned in the Draghi report, we shall find this pragmatism and flexibility to achieve three goals: decarbonization, a healthy industry with good jobs. By the way, it’s 7% of all of Europe’s GDP And 33% of all private R and D expenditure in Europe is the automotive industry.

And at the same time mobility security through supply chains, so that we don’t accidentally create new dependencies where we’re today fully independent in terms of our mobility needs in Europe that we create dependencies on supply chains where we simply lack the time, will or ability to create those in Europe in the next ten years. So I couldn’t resist giving that policy speech while I’m on the air here, because I think it is hugely important for Europe’s industrial competitiveness and supportive of an intelligent decarbonization.

Background Noise/Transition: Thank you.

Philippe Bouchois, Analyst, Jefferies: Much appreciated. Thank you.

Kristina Schenck, Head of Investor Relations and Treasury, Mercedes-Benz: Thanks, Philippe. And we have one more question in the line right now. It goes to Henning Cosman from Barclays. Henning, over to you.

Henning Cosman, Analyst, Barclays: Yes. Thank you so much. Perhaps just in the last two minutes that we have, I just wanted to squeeze one to make absolutely sure that we’re on the same page about the mitigation and the 300 basis points being including or excluding. So can I just ask if you said, Harald, tactical inventory is included, some preliminary measures are included, anything over and above that is not included? So let’s just say conceptually, the status quo remains.

If you had additional mitigations such as price increases, then the impact would be lower than the 300,000,000 for the full year. Is that the correct understanding?

Harald Wilhelm, CFO, Mercedes-Benz: If you would have been substantial change in commercial policies, mean, that is not included in 300 basis points. On the other side, as we said also before, I mean, what cannot be reliably assessed at this stage is a larger scale indirect market consumer sentiment, consumer demand implications from the tariff policies at large. So please consider both sides.

Henning Cosman, Analyst, Barclays: Okay. Thank you.

Kristina Schenck, Head of Investor Relations and Treasury, Mercedes-Benz: So that concludes our Q and A today. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your questions and for being with us today. And also thank you very much to Ola and Harald for answering the questions. Now Investor Relations remains at your disposal to answer any further questions you may have. And now to all of you, have a great morning, a great afternoon and a great evening.

Thank you, and goodbye.

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