Mercedes-Benz Slashes Labor Costs and Eyes a Tech Windfall as China Sales Collapse 27%
Veröffentlicht: 26.06.2026 um 16:07 Uhr, Redaktion boerse-global.de
The Stuttgart automaker is fighting on two very different fronts. In China, its largest market, deliveries have cratered by more than a quarter, dragging first-quarter profit down 17.2% from a year earlier. At home, management is demanding workers put in longer hours without extra pay and has pushed a scheduled bonus payment into 2027. Meanwhile, a little-noticed stake in an autonomous-driving upstart has just cleared a key regulatory hurdle for a Hong Kong listing — a potential, if distant, source of relief.
The numbers from the first quarter paint an ugly picture. Mercedes-Benz Cars sold just 112,000 vehicles in China, versus roughly 153,000 in the same period last year — a 27% plunge. The van business fared even worse, with sales collapsing from 4,648 units to a meagre 635. The group blamed model changes, unfavourable exchange rates, and a brutal pricing war in the world’s biggest auto market. New tariffs added to the headache. Group revenue slipped to €31.6bn from €33.2bn, while EBIT dropped to €1.9bn, down from €2.3bn a year earlier.
That poor start follows a dismal 2025, when net profit nearly halved to €5.3bn. The cumulative pressure has forced Mercedes-Benz to radically expand a cost-cutting programme already under way. The most contentious measure targets the traditional 35-hour work week at German plants — the company is demanding longer shifts with no wage compensation. To free up cash in the near term, the automaker has also decided to defer a special contractual payment equivalent to roughly one-fifth of a monthly salary to 2027.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Mercedes-Benz?
Investors have taken fright. The stock has fallen more than 28% since the start of 2026, sliding to €44.48 — just 1.1% above its 52-week low of €43.99 touched on June 18. The primary source puts the price at €44.28, but whichever figure you use, the shares are hovering dangerously close to the floor. The technical picture is bleak: the stock trades nearly 20% below its 200-day moving average, and the relative strength index is deep in oversold territory. A break below the €44 support level would signal further downside.
Against that grim backdrop, a possible bright spot comes from an unexpected corner. Momenta Global, a specialist in autonomous driving in which Mercedes-Benz holds a 13,772,095-share stake (6.39%), successfully passed a hearing for a planned Hong Kong initial public offering on June 24. The Chinese securities regulator had registered the listing application on June 10, and the prospectus outlines plans to issue as many as 43,754,060 shares. Yet no firm date, issue price, or offering size has been disclosed — key details remain blacked out.
Momenta’s growth story is undeniably impressive. Revenue surged from 743 million yuan in 2023 to 1.3 billion yuan in 2024 and then to 2.4 billion yuan last year, driven largely by a leap in license income from 23 million yuan to 968 million yuan. But for Mercedes-Benz, this remains a passive equity holding and a technology partnership. Any cash injection from the IPO would depend on the actual proceeds and the valuation at which Momenta lists — both unknowns. The company is not treating it as a near-term earnings driver.
Officially, Mercedes-Benz is sticking to its full-year guidance. It still expects 2026 group revenue in line with the previous year and EBIT “significantly above” 2025’s level. For the car division, it targets an adjusted return on sales of 3% to 5%. Whether management can hit those targets while simultaneously renegotiating labour contracts, navigating a Chinese market in turmoil, and hoping for a Hong Kong IPO payoff will determine whether the shares can crawl back from their current depths.
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