Mercedes-Benz Bets on EV Order Book and Buybacks to Offset a Bruising China Quarter

Mercedes-Benz pushes cost discipline and remote-work limits as Q3 sales fall 6% and shares drop 34% in 2026, with BEV deliveries up 61%.

Ahead of its third-quarter report on October 28, 2026, Mercedes-Benz Group is leaning hard on internal cost discipline and operational efficiency. The Stuttgart automaker reactivated its severance program for German employees at the end of September, according to media reports, while Reuters reported that the company is pushing for a return to the office and plans to cap remote work at one day per week.

Those internal moves lay bare the pressure the group is under as it tightens its cost base. The stock has told the same story through the year: shares are down 34 percent since the start of 2026, closing Friday at EUR 39.73 after touching a fresh 52-week low of EUR 38.90 on Thursday.

A Quarter Split Between Two Realities

The numbers behind the cost-cutting reflect a difficult market. On Wednesday the group reported worldwide sales of 491,700 passenger cars and vans for the third quarter, a decline of 6 percent from the same period a year earlier. China was the main drag: Mercedes-Benz Cars saw deliveries there fall 31 percent to 86,800 vehicles, while global passenger-car shipments slipped 8 percent to 407,200 units. Reuters attributed the Chinese decline to challenging conditions in that market.

The battery-electric side of the business told a different story. Mercedes-Benz Cars delivered 68,400 BEVs in the quarter, a jump of 61 percent year over year. Across the group, sales of electric passenger cars and vans climbed 52 percent to 78,100 units. The fully electric CLA, GLC, GLB and GLA model lines are sold out in Europe for the remainder of 2026, with orders already stretching well into 2027.

Analyst Caution and a Buyback Backstop

Patrick Hummel, an analyst at UBS, responded to the sector's condition on Friday by trimming his price target for the automaker to EUR 45 from EUR 50, keeping a "Neutral" rating. He cited mounting pressure from Chinese competitors and the prospect of guidance cuts among European manufacturers as the key headwinds.

Management, meanwhile, is leaning on its ongoing share buyback to support the stock. Between September 1 and September 25, 2026, the company repurchased a total of 2,976,805 of its own shares, including 895,000 in the trading week through September 25.

Paris Debuts Before the Main Event

Despite the headwinds in Asia, the group is preparing the next stage of its product offensive. At the Paris Motor Show, running from October 12 to 18, 2026, Mercedes-Benz plans several premieres. A press conference is scheduled for Monday, October 12, where the new GLA, the GLE and the fully electric VLE are expected to be unveiled.

How the sales mix has fed through to earnings will become clear at the end of the month. A pre-close call for analysts and investors was already held last Thursday to frame key developments in advance, and the full third-quarter interim report, together with an analyst conference, is due on October 28, 2026. That is when the market will learn how far the savings programs and the surge in electric deliveries have gone toward stabilizing profitability.