Daimler AG aims to boost annual profit by at least 3 billion euros ($3.9 billion) under its "Fit for Leadership" programme, intended to boost efficiency and improve the competitiveness of its luxury car brand Mercedes, a magazine reported.
Citing company sources, Germany's Manager Magazin said the exact targets of Fit for Leadership were still being calculated and the quantity of additional profit depended on whether the programme would include projects already being executed.
"The figure is pure speculation," a spokesman for Daimler said on October 18.
Daimler currently forecasts it will keep operating profit from its ongoing business roughly stable at around 9 billion euros this year, although the Mercedes business is only expected to earn less than 5 billion of that.
The company will have a chance to update investors on its outlook when it reports third-quarter figures on October 25.
Late in September, two sources familiar with the matter had told Reuters the financial benefit of the programme would be significantly more than 1 billion euros.
The programme is being implemented in a deteriorating environment for car makers and Daimler Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche recently called into doubt the 2013 profit target for Mercedes, pointing to a tougher environment for vehicle sales.
Manager Mazazin also reported that an internal study benchmarking Mercedes against rivals BMW and Audi, the premium brand of Volkswagen, concluded that Mercedes employed between 8,000 to 10,000 too many workers.
"Fit for Leadership is not a job reduction programme, it is an efficiency programme with which we want to increase productivity," the spokesman said.
He also denied that the Mercedes S-Class market launch would be delayed by three months, as the report also stated.
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