The Stuttgart-based carmaker announced a net profit to €1.31 million for Q2 2010 compared to a net loss of €1.06 million for the same period in 2009.

This was on the back of an increase in sales units – for Q2 Daimler sold 496,500 cars and commercial vehicles worldwide, up by 27% on the figure for Q2 2009. Second-quarter revenue was also up significantly from €19.6 billion in 2009 to €25.1 billion this year – an increase of 28%. Adjusted for exchange-rate effects, revenue grew by 21%.

The carmaker credited the performance to 'recovering automotive markets around the world, strong growth in major car and commercial-vehicle markets, an attractive product portfolio and the implementation of efficiency improvements'.

'Our strategy is paying off: We have a very dynamic development of unit sales and revenue in all divisions. After what was already a very good first quarter, we achieved excellent results in the second quarter,' said Dr Dieter Zetsche, chairman of  Daimler AG and head of Mercedes-Benz Cars. In particular, Daimler highlighted the performance of Mercedes-Benz Cars and Daimler Trucks, which both posted significant improvements in operating profit. For Merecedes-Benz Cars EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) rose by €1.7 billion to €1.38 million while Daimler Trucks reported EBIT of €300 million compared to a loss of €508 million in Q2 2009.

Dr Zetsche added that he remains confident of the outlook for the full year: 'We anticipate significant revenue growth in 2010 and we are targeting EBIT from the ongoing business of €6 billion.' This compares to a previous forecast of €4 billion.