Mercedes-Benz Group

Mercedes-Benz Group AG is a German automotive company headquartered in Stuttgart that makes Mercedes-Benz passenger cars and vans and offers vehicle financing. Its roots reach back to the work of Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler in the 1880s, the two firms merged in 1926, and the group reported revenue of 132.2 billion euros for 2025.

History of Mercedes-Benz Group

Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach left the engine maker Gasmotorenfabrik Deutz in 1882 to set up their own workshop. Karl Benz drove his first automobile in 1885, and Daimler ran his in 1886. The two men built separate companies that later became rivals and then partners.

In 1906 Ferdinand Porsche became chief engineer at Daimler’s Austrian factory. In 1900 the businessman Emil Jellinek proposed a high-performance car named after his daughter, Mercedes, which led to the Mercedes name. The Mercedes star emblem was registered in 1909 and has appeared on the company’s radiators since 1921.

Daimler and Benz fully merged in 1926 to produce cars as Mercedes-Benz, forming Daimler-Benz AG. In 1939 the German state took over the auto industry, and during the war the company made trucks, tanks and aircraft engines. In September 1944 two weeks of Allied air strikes destroyed 70 percent or more of its plants.

After the war Friedrich Flick acquired a 37.5 percent stake between 1954 and 1957. Daimler-Benz bought Freightliner in 1981 and introduced the compact 190 model in 1983. Werner Breitschwerdt resigned as chairman in July 1987, and Edvard Reuter succeeded him. Between February 1985 and early 1986 it also acquired Motoren- und Turbinen-Union, Dornier and AEG.

In 1998 Daimler-Benz completed a stock acquisition of Chrysler valued at more than 35 billion dollars, creating DaimlerChrysler. The company announced on May 14, 2007, that it would sell 80.1 percent of Chrysler to Cerberus Capital Management for 7.4 billion dollars, and it renamed itself Daimler AG in October of that year.

Daimler Truck Holding began trading as an independent company on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on December 10, 2021. On February 1, 2022, Daimler AG became Mercedes-Benz Group AG, and its stock symbol changed from DAI to MBG.

Products and services of Mercedes-Benz Group

The group’s car business covers Mercedes-Benz, Mercedes-AMG, Mercedes-Maybach and Mercedes-EQ passenger cars. A second division makes vans. A third, Mercedes-Benz Mobility, offers financing, leasing, car subscription and rental, fleet management, charging and payment services, and insurance brokerage.

Mercedes-Benz Cars sold 1,801,291 vehicles in 2025, down 9.2 percent from 2024. Mercedes-Benz Vans sold 359,136, down 11.5 percent. Together the two divisions sold more than 2.1 million vehicles.

Electrified models, which the company calls xEV, made up 20.5 percent of car sales, and fully electric car sales were 168,823. Van sales of fully electric vehicles rose 46 percent to 28,488, a 7.9 percent share of van sales.

Corporate structure and operations

The group is organized into three divisions: Mercedes-Benz Cars, Mercedes-Benz Vans and Mercedes-Benz Mobility, which reports as its financial services division. The company reported about 164,000 employees in 2025. Its former structure that included trucks reported about 288,500 employees in 2020.

Revenue in 2025 was 132.2 billion euros, down from 145.6 billion euros in 2024. Adjusted earnings before interest and taxes, known as adjusted EBIT, were 8.2 billion euros, compared with 13.7 billion euros a year earlier. Adjusted EBIT removes special items so that readers can compare underlying performance, and reported EBIT was 5.8 billion euros.

Net profit was 5.3 billion euros, down from 10.4 billion euros, and earnings per share were 5.34 euros. Free cash flow of the industrial business was 5.4 billion euros, down from 9.2 billion euros. The company said these figures were preliminary and not yet audited when it published them.

By division, Cars had revenue of 96.4 billion euros and a return on sales of 5.0 percent. Vans had revenue of 17.1 billion euros and a return on sales of 10.2 percent. The financial services division had revenue of 24.6 billion euros, new business of 55.9 billion euros and a return on equity of 9.7 percent.

Earnings fell in every division except the financial services arm. Cars had adjusted EBIT of 4.8 billion euros, compared with 8.7 billion euros in 2024, and its return on sales dropped from 8.1 percent to 5.0 percent. Vans had adjusted EBIT of 1.75 billion euros, compared with 2.8 billion euros, and its return on sales fell from 14.6 percent to 10.2 percent. Mercedes-Benz Mobility improved to 1.267 billion euros from 1.134 billion euros.

Impact of Mercedes-Benz Group

The group combines two lines of automotive invention, Benz’s and Daimler’s, under a single brand. The star registered in 1909 and the Mercedes name from 1900 remain on its cars today. It competes with other German luxury makers such as BMW, which turned down a takeover offer from Daimler-Benz in 1959.

The 2021 truck spin-off and 2022 renaming made the group a company focused on cars, vans and financial services. Its headcount fell from about 288,500 in 2020 to about 164,000 in 2025, a drop that coincides with the spin-off. The company is also one of the best-known manufacturers in Germany, where it is headquartered in Stuttgart.

Mercedes-Benz Mobility held a total portfolio of 128.8 billion euros at the end of 2025, which shows how much of the group’s activity involves financing and leasing as well as building vehicles.

Criticism and controversies

On August 13, 2020, Daimler AG and Mercedes-Benz USA announced agreements in principle to settle civil and environmental claims over emission control systems on about 250,000 diesel passenger cars and vans in the United States. The agencies involved were the Environmental Protection Agency, the California Air Resources Board, the U.S. Department of Justice, the California Attorney General’s Office and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Daimler estimated the cost of the settlement with authorities at about 1.5 billion dollars and the class action, In re Mercedes-Benz Emissions Litigation in New Jersey, at about 700 million dollars. It also expected further settlement-related expenses in the mid three-digit millions of euros.

The company said it had made sufficient provisions and had cooperated fully with the authorities. The settlements required final approval from the relevant agencies and courts, and the government agreement was to be set out in binding consent decrees.

Editorially reviewed by Specialty Digest Editorial TeamLast reviewed November 4, 2026Researched and drafted with AI assistanceReport an issue