FRANKFURT -- Daimler is seeking 6 billion euros ($6.75 billion) in cost savings and efficiency gains by 2021 at Mercedes-Benz passenger cars and a further 2 billion euros at Daimler Trucks division, Manager Magazin said on Thursday.
Daimler declined to comment on the cost savings figure and on the Manager Magazin report.
The cost savings are being sought by Daimler's Ola Kallenius, who will become CEO in May, the report said, without citing sources.
In February Daimler said it would pursue cost savings measures after fourth-quarter operating profit plunged by 22 percent, hit by trade wars, rising costs for developing electric cars and an industry downturn.
Around 30,000 Mercedes-Benz cars with faulty vehicle electronics were produced at its plant in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, requiring expensive reworking and delays, Manager Magazin said.
The delayed production at Tuscaloosa has led to a revenue shortfall of around 2 billion euros, and could depress first quarter earnings by up to half a billion euros, the magazine reported.
Daimler is due to release first quarter earnings on April 26.
Daimler also plans to become a carbon neutral company by 2040, ensuring that all new cars, production methods, and suppliers will work in a way which do not produce carbon dioxide emissions, Manager Magazin said.
Separately, Kallenius will not renew common projects with French automaker Renault and Nissan, letting an alliance between the automakers lapse, the magazine said.
