Car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz once again sold fewer vehicles in the third quarter of 2025. How does this affect the employee bonus at the end of the year?
Stuttgart – Sales at the Mercedes-Benz car company have been weakening for some time, which is particularly noticeable in the world’s most important market in China. As the Stuttgart-based company announced on October 7th, this downward trend will continue in the third quarter. Specifically, the brand with the star sold 525,300 cars and vans, twelve percent fewer vehicles than in the same period last year. If this trend continues until the end of the year, it will also have an impact on profit sharing. Or is it even on the verge of extinction?
In 2023, Mercedes-Benz paid employees the highest bonus in the company’s history of up to 7,300 euros; last year, the profit sharing was significantly lower at up to 5,220 euros. Like General Works Council Chairman Ergun Lümali at the “Auto Talk”. Stuttgarter Zeitung (StZ) revealed, the participation for 2025 will probably be even lower. However, under certain circumstances it could even be that the bonus is canceled completely.
Profit sharing at Mercedes-Benz: works agreement only valid for 2025
As part of the “Next Level Performance” savings program, it is said that there has already been discussion about whether the profit sharing that has been paid out since 1997 should be discontinued after the current term of the works agreement has expired. This agreement is only valid for the current financial year, so the bonus is certain for 2025, but not yet for 2026. What happens next is currently anyone’s guess. However, Ergun Lümali does not believe that the car manufacturer will cancel the bonus payment entirely.
| Founding | November 17, 1998 (predecessor companies date back to 1883) |
| headquarters | Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg |
| Industry | Automotive industry, financial services |
| Products | Premium car models, vans, financial services |
| Line | Ola Källenius (Chairman of the Board) |
| Employees | 175.000 (2024) |
| Sales volume | 145.6 billion euros (2024) |
“I am very confident that we will get a share of the profits again due to the strength and solidarity of our team,” said the Mercedes works council boss in “Auto-Talk” on Monday. “It’s exactly these kinds of issues that show what IG Metall stands for, and that’s how we measure ourselves. And that’s why I’m confident. But I also expect that we’ll get support from the workforce.”
According to the head of the works council, the Mercedes bonus will probably be lower for 2025
As mentioned at the beginning, Lümali assumes that the employee bonus for the current financial year will be lower than in the previous year. The group results will probably be “not that great,” he is quoted as saying StZ. Since 2023, a new calculation logic has been used to determine profit sharing, which is based even more closely on EBIT – i.e. operating profit – and free cash flow. The bonus will be paid to employees in Germany with their April salary.
At the tuning subsidiary Mercedes-AMG, the level of profit sharing last year differed slightly from that of the parent company.
