Daimler Financial Services AG expects to post positive results also in the fourth quarter, after achieving earnings of €101 million in the third quarter 2009. “We’ve achieved the turnaround, and we expect to once again make a contribution to the Group’s earnings even though we had the toughest year in our company’s history,” said Jürgen Walker, Chairman of Daimler Financial Services AG, at a press conference at the company’s headquarters in Berlin.

While many banks tightened their criteria for approving auto loans or withdrew from the business altogether, Daimler Financial Services expanded its market share by maintaining a steady market presence and lending practice in a market that contracted as a whole. As a result, the share of new Daimler-built vehicles financed or leased by the company rose to more than 40 percent. Despite the increased penetration rates, the drop in vehicle sales could not be fully offset. Contract volume declined by seven percent to €58.7 billion between the end of 2008 and the end of the third quarter 2009.

Mercedes-Benz is further expanding its center of excellence for compact vehicles by enlarging its Rastatt plant with an investment of 600 million euros, which is roughly $889 million. In addition, a further 800 million euros ($1.2 billion) will be invested in a new plant at the Hungarian location of Kecskem©t. The Company’s total investments for these two locations thus amount to approximately 1.4 billion euros ($2.1 billion). The first vehicles of the successor generation to the current A- and B-Class will roll off the assembly lines in Rastatt from the end of 2011.

“With this significant investment we are defining our future in the compact car segment and safeguard the plant Rastatt in the long term. In addition, we will continue to invest in our locations in Germany – about EUR 3 billion ($4.4 billion) in 2009 and 2010 alone,” said Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and head of Mercedes-Benz Cars. “The expansion of the Rastatt plant illustrates our clear commitment to our center of excellence and the excellent work of the Rastatt employees,” continued Zetsche.

After returning to profitability in the third quarter of 2009, Daimler AG (stock-exchange abbreviation DAI) anticipates positive EBIT from its ongoing business also in the fourth quarter. However, general economic developments and their effects on dealerships and suppliers could lead to an impact on fourth-quarter earnings.

Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management (CEO) of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars: “In recent months, we have increasingly mastered the crisis. Daimler has been able to maintain its financial flexibility and has intensified the actions taken to enhance efficiency, while pushing forward with the development of new products and markets. We are now very well positioned and can look with confidence to the coming year, which will remain challenging due to the still-difficult situation of automobile markets worldwide.”

Daimler AG and Hero Group today together announced to dissolve the Daimler Hero Commercial Vehicles Ltd. joint venture in India. The economic situation and the continuing weakness in demand in India require a repositioning of Daimler Trucks’ partnership with the Hero Group in India. In the future, the Hero Group will focus on its core business operations and return its 40 percent stake in the two partners’ joint venture, Daimler Hero Commercial Vehicles Ltd., to Daimler Trucks.