Dear readers,

The year 2008 was marked by the dramatic effects of the worldwide financial and economic crisis in the second half of the year, which led to a significant and abrupt drop in demand for automobiles.

We are facing up to the challenges of this financial and economic crisis, and we aim to emerge from it stronger than ever. That’s why we will continue our policy of making no cuts in our future-oriented investments — be it in our new products and green technologies or our penetration of important growth markets. At the same time, we are intensifying our efforts to operate efficiently in every area of our company in order to ensure lasting success for our divisions and business units and enable our shareholders and employees to share in our company’s success. An essential criterion of this effort is sustainability — in our production activities, in our automotive products and financial services for our customers, and also in our business operations.

As we already announced at the Annual Press Conference in February, we expect that the earnings of the Daimler Group and its divisions will continue to be affected by significant additional pressures in 2009. However, thanks to the launch of the new E-Class and savings resulting from our efficiency measures, we expect earnings to gradually improve in the course of the year.

Only a large measure of competitiveness and the achievement of business targets enables a company to make a positive contribution to sustainability in other areas as well. We aim to live up to this responsibility. At the same time, we plan to further increase our transparency. One step we are taking in this direction is to represent Mercedes-Benz Vans and Daimler Buses as separate segments in our business figures starting with business year 2009.

Bodo Uebber
Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG
Finance & Controlling/Daimler Financial Services