Daimler China sales to pass 100,000 threshold this year

Daimler AG Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche said Friday that June could be a new record month for the German automaker in terms of global vehicle sales as demand in China continues to soar.

Zetsche told reporters at the sidelines of an industry conference in Munich that the Stuttgart-based firm expects to sell "very clearly" more than 100,000 vehicles in China this year, adding that the Asian country could become the company's most important market as early as 2015.

Daimler had so far stated that vehicle sales in China are expected to exceed the 100,000 threshold this year. The automaker is due to release monthly vehicle sales data for its core Mercedes-Benz division next week.

A company spokeswoman said the last sales record for the month of June were global sales of 107,300 Mercedes-Benz passenger cars in 2007.

Zetsche said the current valuation of the euro isn't weak, noting that the currency has been over-valued for a long time. "I think that we're currently in a natural relation," he said, adding that this could help automakers to grow profitably.

A relatively strong euro compared with the dollar and the U.K. pound has been a major concern in recent years particularly for German luxury car makers as they produce the vast majority of their vehicles in Germany but export many of these cars to the U.S., U.K. and China.

In order to reduce the exposure to unfavorable currency fluctuations, Daimler as well as its peers BMW AG and Volkswagen AG are ramping up local production and purchasing in North America and China.