Daimler AG Chief Executive Officer Dieter Zetsche said the automaker plans to lower sales incentives on Mercedes-Benz vehicles and raise prices on some models as demand outstrips supply.
Zetsche told analysts Friday that he expects “pricing to improve significantly” this year, and that in every market he visits he receives pleas from dealers to provide more of the automaker’s compact cars such as the new CLA coupe.
Fourth-quarter deliveries for Mercedes’s small vehicles climbed 44 percent, while demand for the revamped flagship S- Class surged 43 percent. Stuttgart, Germany-based Daimler forecast Thursday that 2014 operating profit from ongoing operations will greatly exceed the 7.9 billion euros ($10.7 billion) achieved last year on demand for the new GLA compact sport-utility vehicle and redesigned C-Class sedan.
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