Daimler: China stimulus to lift luxury car sales

Daimler AG expects China's economic stimulus measures to give sales of luxury cars a major boost this year, making the country an increasingly crucial market for it as demand slumps elsewhere, a top executive said.

"The stimulus package is impacting the construction sector, stock prices are increasing and that has direct impact on our customers," Ulrich Walker, head of the German automaker's Northeast Asia operations told Reuters in a recent interview.

"We are at the moment on the lucky side in this part of the world because the financial crisis hasn't changed our approach or our forecast here in China," he said. "We are convinced that this year will also be a successful year."

Mercedes-Benz is aiming to outperform growth in China's luxury car market after scoring a 50 percent rise in sales last month.

Further out, Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche has said he expects to outsell rival BMW in China, where sales of the top-end S-Class series have outpaced those in the United States so far this year. He did not give a time frame.

China has launched an economic stimulus package worth 4 trillion yuan ($585.5 billion) to help it reach its target of 8 percent economic growth this year.

Daimler is counting on that growth to propel sales not just for its core Mercedes-Benz cars but also its Smart and AMG brands

-- at opposite ends of the group's product line-up.

Walker said the Smart brand, launched in China on April 8, had already garnered more than 1,000 orders after a marketing campaign through 13 cities, during which more than 6,000 people test-drove the tiny car.

He said the automaker was "looking very carefully" at the possibility of bringing an electric version of the Smart to China, but that no decision had been made.

At the top end, Mercedes' performance brand will showcase the remodelled S65 AMG sedan in a world premiere at the Shanghai auto show starting on Monday, underscoring the importance of the Chinese market, where AMG sales nearly tripled last year.

Volker Mornhinweg, president of AMG, said AMG will add three more models in China this year to bring the total to seven, underscoring his bullish outlook for the market.