Guess we will all know by now Mercedes' sales are on a tear, with sales in China in March up over 30% for instance.
But what stands out to me, is that thanks to the people of the UK, almost uniquely in the world, falling hook, line and sinker for there being an actual economic recovery, rather than the lies peddled by their govt and media of there being one, combined with the usual new registration plate, sales/registrations of Mercedes-Benz cars in March in the UK were almost as high or higher than home market Germany's, the U.S.'s and China's.
Good for Daimler, terrible for the UK, given that no Mercedes-Benz vehicles are made in UK. UK's goods trade deficit is around £100 bn a year and rising - totally unsustainable.
What usually happens when a country like the UK runs a huge trade deficit is the country's currency falls, thereby making imports more expensive, and so in theory reducing demand and stimulating domestic production to substitute.
However, contrary to theory, the UK's currency is rising, whilst its trade deficit grows, thanks mainly to 'hot money' investment flows into the bubble London property market.
This is a royal disaster for UK. A rising pound, against the euro, dollar and others, is making imports cheaper, so those masses of new Mercedes become easier and easier/more profitable to sell for Mercedes-Benz UK.
At the same time, any manufacturer still making in the UK, like JLR, Honda, Toyota, GM Vauxhall and so on, is being squeezed by the fall in the worth of their foreign receipts.
Just today, 'unexpectedly' bad employment figures in the U.S., blamed on bad weather, drove another fall in the dollar, as expectations of a renewed QE money printing programme increased.
The American people, whether due to the cold winter or just being flat broke for at least half of the population are not spending like their UK counterparts, perhaps because they've seen through the 'recovery' lies, and realise they are actually poorer than 5 years ago, not better off, in this recovery.
So, the dollar falls, the euro falls, with hints of QE by the EC Bank, and the pound continues rising.
Any car maker that does not have a serious local production presence in weak currency countries is in serious trouble, like Honda UK showed last week, with the UK its production base for the whole European market,
The Germans have production in the U.S., to partly offset the damage of a falling dollar/rising euro. This also helps to explain BMW's move this week to massively expand U.S. production at Spartanburg SC to 400k+ a year, and for Mercedes and Audi to set up production in Mexico, piggybacking on Nissan and VW respectively.