Daimler upbeat on rising sales

German car maker Daimler says rising vehicle sales and revenue have it on track to meet its earnings targets for this year.

At the group’s annual general meeting in Berlin, Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche revealed sales at its Mercedes-Benz luxury division were up 12 percent in the first three months of the year from the same period last year.

“Daimler is on the way to its best form,” Zetsche said.

Mercedes aims to overtake BMW and Audi on profitability and sales by 2020.

Daimler, also the world’s biggest truck maker, increased lorry sales by about 20 percent in the first quarter to 107,000 vehicles, with strong demand from North America offsetting declining sales in Europe and Latin America, Zetsche said.

Full-year sales may exceed last year’s level, he added, without providing details.

Zetsche stood by goals to sell more than half a million trucks in 2015 as well as more than 400,000 vans and about 42,000 buses that same year.

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