Earlier this year, Daimler revealed it had a record year in sales with over 3.3 million new vehicles delivered. Today it followed up by giving us the financial details of its monstrous year. The numbers are staggering as the company set records for unit sales, revenue, and profits. What’s better is Daimler thinks that it is going to do even better this upcoming year.
Total unit sales for 2017 were up 9 percent over the previous year. A good chunk of that growth came from the Mercedes-Benz Car and Van divisions but the real mover was Daimler Trucks. Truck sales increased 13 percent year-over-year. As for that growth in the Car division, Daimler attributed the growth to strong SUV sales as well as the popularity of the new E-Class.
Then on the money side of the business, Daimler Financial Services wrote 1.9 million new financing and leasing contracts worth a total of $88.4 billion. That number was up 14 percent over the previous year. That brings its total to more than 4.8 million financed or leased vehicles on the books, with a total contract volume of $174.9 billion. Or, put another way, there are nearly 5 million people out there driving a Benz that each owes Daimler about $36,000 on average.
Daimler gave an outlook for 2018 growth as part of its report. It thinks that worldwide demand for cars is going to grow about 2 percent. It’s more excited about the demand for medium and heavy-duty trucks which it says should increase significantly in North America and Europe. It’s also looking for solid demand in Brazil after years of weakness and a big bump in Turkey and Russia as well.
Speaking on the record year Dieter Zetsche, chairman of the board of management of Daimler AG, said, “The Daimler workforce has once again succeeded in breaking the records set in the previous year. Our company stands for stable success in volatile times. But: stability is no justification for still stand [sic]. That’s why we are pushing forward with the transformation in all areas at Daimler.”
If Daimler is right about its 2018 assessment then that means we are going to see more record numbers coming around the corner.