Mercedes 2013 Annual Report Download - page 14

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Stuttgart, February 2014
2013 was a strong year for the stock exchanges – and for Daimler shares it was
especially strong. The value of your company increased by 52 percent over the year,
and thus significantly surpassed the positive trend of most indices. This positive
development shows us two things: Our current business development is good, and
the markets are confident that we can perform even better in the future.
Last year, our revenue reached € 118 billion– a new record in Daimler’s history.
EBIT from the ongoing business amounted to € 7.9 billion. As previ-ously announced,
we significantly improved our profitability as the year progressed. At the Annual
Shareholders’ Meeting, the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board will
propose an increase in the dividend to € 2.25 per share. With this proposal we
are letting our shareholders participate in the Company’s success and at the same
time expressing our confidence about the ongoing business development.
What I see as the most important achievement of the past financial year isn’t apparent
from the financial statements at first glance: It’s the enormous efforts with which
the entire Daimler team made all of this possible last year. The good results of all our
divisions are thanks to your exceptional work and ideas. Together, we created the
basis for sustainable success in 2013.
The focus at Mercedes-Benz Cars last year was on the new S-Class. This car has always been the touchstone
for our brand promise: “The best or nothing.” That applies to the design of our flagship; but more importantly,
it also applies to the technology inside it: No competitor is more advanced than we are in the area of autonomous
driving. At the same time, we have been able to attract a lot of new and younger customers with our new
compact models. That’s another reason why Mercedes-Benz was the world’s fastest-growing premium auto-
motive brand in 2013.
With our trucks and buses, we were the first manufacturer to renew our complete portfolio in the context
of changing over to the Euro VI emission standards. And the reward for that was increasing market share.
At Mercedes-Benz Vans, we put our new flagship on the road last year – the Sprinter – and further strength-
ened our leading position in that segment.
At Daimler Financial Services, we set a new record in 2013: For the first time, the number of all vehicles
we currently financed or leased passed the three-million mark. And car2go, the pioneer amongst the car-sharing
providers, remains on its growth path: In 2013, car2go was available in 25 cities; some 10,000 cars were
on the road for nearly 600,000 customers.
Other highlights of 2013 can be found on the following pages. They all prove one thing above all:
Daimler is on a growth path. And we intend to accelerate in 2014.
To those ends, we are continuing our product offensives in all divisions. With our cars, we are launching
a total of eight new models this year – from the smart to the S-Class Coupe. We will extend our range
of emission-free vehicles with the B-Class Electric Drive. And with the V-Class, a unique multi-purpose vehicle
with a star on the front is entering the showrooms.