Mercedes-Benz kept second-quarter earnings within its own targets as electric-car sales climbed sharply and its vans and finance arms delivered strong results. The maker’s core Cars division held a 4.0 percent adjusted margin despite a tougher China market, while pushing ahead with its largest-ever model roll-out. The group confirmed its full-year outlook and raised some individual targets.
Mercedes-Benz reported second-quarter results on 28 July 2026 that landed inside its guidance, with the group pointing to accelerating demand for its new electric models and continued cost discipline. The company says the response to recently launched cars has been strong, even as a difficult market in China continued to weigh on volumes.
Earnings hold within guidance
The Cars division posted an adjusted EBIT of €909 million, down from €1,228 million a year earlier, for an adjusted return on sales of 4.0 percent (Q2 2025: 5.1 percent). That kept it within the full-year target range of 3 to 5 percent. According to the manufacturer, the year-on-year change reflected intensified competition in China, a less favourable model mix, product life-cycle measures and launch-campaign costs, partly offset by efficiency gains.
Reported EBIT for Cars fell to €49 million (Q2 2025: €783 million) after €704 million in impairments tied to at-equity investments in China; the company says these caused no cash outflow and were excluded from the adjusted figure. At group level, revenue came in at €32.1 billion (Q2 2025: €33.2 billion) and EBIT rose to €1.5 billion (Q2 2025: €1.3 billion), including a €131 million gain linked to the planned sale of the Athlon Group. Adjusted group EBIT was €2.3 billion.
Electric sales accelerate
Battery-electric sales at Mercedes-Benz Cars rose 51 percent year on year to 52,852 units, driven by 87 percent growth in Europe. Total Cars volume was 417,765 vehicles (Q2 2025: 453,674). Sales grew 4 percent in Europe and 10 percent in the United States, partly offsetting a 30 percent drop in China; excluding China, worldwide car sales rose 2 percent.
The company is rolling out more than 40 new models between 2025 and 2027. It highlighted contributions from the new CLA and GLB, strong order intake for the new electric GLC, and a successful European launch of the new S-Class, alongside opened order books for the electric C-Class, GLE and GLS. The electric GLA was due to make its world premiere at the end of July.
Vans and Financial Services deliver
Mercedes-Benz Vans again posted a double-digit adjusted return on sales of 10.2 percent, with adjusted EBIT up 3 percent to €454 million on 94,075 units sold. Deliveries rose 23 percent in North America and 5 percent in Europe, while electric-van sales climbed 46 percent. Series production of the new electric VLE began in June at the Vitoria plant in Spain.
Mercedes-Benz Financial Services lifted adjusted EBIT 70 percent to €492 million, with adjusted return on equity of 15.3 percent and contract volume of €131.6 billion at the end of June.
Costs and cash
The group says its Next Level Performance programme continued to support results: administrative costs fell 14 percent and research and development spending 12 percent, while Cars cost of sales dropped 7 percent. Net liquidity of the industrial business stood at €30.4 billion after €5 billion in dividends and share buybacks in the first half, with free cash flow of €1.1 billion in the quarter.
Outlook
Mercedes-Benz confirmed its Cars margin guidance and now expects electrified vehicles to account for 23 to 25 percent of Cars sales, up from 21 to 23 percent. It also raised the Financial Services return-on-equity target to 12 to 14 percent, while guiding Cars volume and group revenue to come in slightly below the prior year on continued China weakness.
“Even in a challenging market environment, we stayed on course in the second quarter and accelerated our product offensive. The response from our customers to the new models is very positive: sales of our electric passenger cars rose by 51 percent, and BEV order intake in Europe more than doubled during the quarter. In the second half of the year, we are focusing on bringing more new models to our customers and further improving our cost position and productivity.” — Ola Källenius, Chairman of the Board of Management, Mercedes-Benz Group AG
Mercedes-Benz reports its next quarterly figures later in the year.
Source: media.mercedes-benz.com