Mercedes-Benz posts record profit in 2021

The newly restructured Mercedes-Benz Group posted a record profit of 14.2 billion euros for 2021 with revenues up 9 percent year-on-year to 168 billion euros, the German carmaker said on Thursday, reported Xinhua.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and semiconductor supply chain bottlenecks, top-end vehicle sales rose 30 percent, while sales of electric cars even surged 64 percent as the "electrification ramp-up gathers pace," according to the company.

"2021 was a year of strategic progress for Mercedes-Benz," said the group's Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Ola Kaellenius, adding that the focus is now on "scaling electric vehicles, accelerating our car software plans and growing our luxury business."

Although sales of Mercedes-Benz Group cars and vans fell by 5 percent in 2021 to just over two billion units, adjusted return on sales rose in the low double digits as a result of a "good product mix, solid net pricing, continued cost-discipline and favorable used car performance."