Daimler Sacrifices Short-Term Profit in Mercedes Spending Push
- Research spending set to rise to 8.1 billion euros a year
- Carmaker pushes development of autonomous, electric cars
Daimler CEO: Confident Cash Will Sustain Dividend
Daimler AG signaled that spending for the future would take priority over short-term earnings gains as it issued a tepid profit forecast for 2017 and vowed to increase its aggressive investment into self-driving, electric cars.
Even as the Mercedes-Benz unit generates record sales on new models like the GLC sport utility vehicle, the German auto group’s profit will rise only “slightly” this year after a 2 percent dip in 2016, the Stuttgart-based company said on Thursday. The cautious forecast shows the pressure to boost spending as Mercedes prepares to roll out at least 10 electric vehicles and works to stay ahead of intensifying competition from newcomers like Tesla Inc. and established rivals such as BMW AG.