Mercedes-Benz Group on Wednesday reported that its net profit fell 43% in the first quarter of 2025 because of lower vehicle sales, price pressures, and weaker contributions from Chinese operations.
Net profit totaled €1.73 billion, down from €3.03 billion a year earlier, the company said in its quarterly report.
Revenue declined 7% to €33.22 billion. Earnings before interest and taxes fell to €2.29 billion from €3.86 billion, while adjusted EBIT dropped 29% to €2.55 billion. Earnings per share fell to €1.74 from €2.86.
Unit sales at Mercedes-Benz Cars decreased 4% to 446,300 vehicles. Sales in Europe and China were down, while North America posted a modest gain.
Electrified vehicles made up 19.5% of car sales, unchanged from a year earlier. Battery-electric vehicle sales declined 14%, while plug-in hybrids rose 8%.
Mercedes-Benz Vans posted a 21% drop in deliveries to 82,943 units, with commercial van sales falling and private van sales rising. Electrified vans represented 5.7% of van sales, up from 2.8% a year earlier.
Car segment revenue declined 6% to €24.24 billion, with adjusted EBIT falling 24% to €1.77 billion. The adjusted return on sales dropped to 7.3% from 9%.
The vans business saw a 17% revenue decline to €4.08 billion, and a 41% decrease in adjusted EBIT to €475 million. Adjusted return on sales fell to 11.6% from 16.3%.
Mercedes-Benz Mobility reported stable EBIT of €287 million. New business fell 8% to €13.62 billion, while the adjusted return on equity held steady at 8.6%.
Research and development spending rose 5% to €2.32 billion. Capital investment increased 4% to €685 million.
Free cash flow of the industrial business grew 6% to €2.36 billion. Net liquidity in the industrial business increased to €33.33 billion.
At the group level, net debt fell to €84.23 billion from €90.94 billion at the end of 2024, while total liquidity was steady at €22.33 billion.
The German automaker company said it expects continued economic and geopolitical uncertainty to negatively affect earnings, cash flow and returns for the remainder of the year.
