I would like to remind you that this telephone conference is governed by the safe harbor wording that you will find in our published results documents. Please note that our presentations contain forward-looking statements that reflect management's current views with respect to future events. Such statements are subject to many risks and uncertainties. If the assumptions and underlying any of these statements prove incorrect, then actual results may be materially different from those expressed or implied by such statements. Forward-looking statements speak only to the date on which they are made. May I now hand over to Steffen Hoffmann, Head of Mercedes-Benz Investor Relations and Treasury? Thank you very much.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. This is Steffen Hoffmann speaking. On behalf of Mercedes-Benz, I'd like to welcome you on both the telephone and the internet to our Q1 results conference call. I'm very happy to have with me today Harald Wilhelm, our CFO. To give you maximum time for your questions, Harald will begin with an introduction directly followed by a Q&A session. The respective presentation can be found on the Mercedes-Benz IR website. Now, I'd like to hand over to Harald.
Yeah. Thank you, Steffen. And good morning, everybody. Welcome to the Q1 call. Well, if I look at I mean, this quarter, I would say this is a demanding quarter looking at market evolution, supply chain, product transitioning. Therefore, I think it's important, I mean, that we all understand what are the temporary impacts in the quarter and what are the implications for the full year in particular, I mean, for the guidance. With this being said, now let's have a look at the numbers at the group level, page 2. Obviously, lower car sales mean lead to lower revenue. EBIT and EPS, so the EPS reduction, however, is smaller, lower than the EBIT reduction. The net income is less impacted, and we have the accretion effect from the share buyback on EPS. We delivered a solid cash flow of EUR 2.2 billion.
So you see cash matters and is in the focus, and that supported a very comfortable net cash position with more than EUR 33 billion by the end of the quarter. Before we turn to the numbers of the first quarter in more detail, I would like to highlight a few models, products, which came into the market, I mean, in Q1. I think this is also important to understand the Q1 sales and mix evolution as these products are going to hit the market in the remainder of the year and obviously the time ahead of that. So what are they? First and foremost, I mean, the all-new G-Class on the ICE. Next to it, we have the Electric G-Class World Premiere, I mean, in the U.S. and China last week simultaneously.
You might have seen that this comes along, I mean, with unique driving functions like the G-turn, the G-steering, and the intelligent off-road crawl functions. What else? We saw an extensive upgrade of the EQS with more than 800 km range, new executive rear seats, and a standing star on front of the hood. Lots of stuff on the AMG side with different E-Class variants of AMG, the 53, further GT Coupe variants in the first quarter. Again, these products will hit the market in the remainder of the year, which will help, I mean, sales, but in particular, mix, and much more to come in the quarters and in the time ahead of us. Let's look at the sales evolution, page four, a bit more in detail. Total sales at cars were at 463,000 units, impacted by supply constraints, product transitioning, and market dynamics.
Let's zoom a bit into the regional evolution. We could see basically a stable evolution in Europe and in the U.S. in the first quarter. If we zoom and deep dive a bit further into China, what happened here, the E-Class availability was constrained in the first quarter. We also saw effects from the model year changeovers and the product launches. These product introductions, as just mentioned before, will support, I mean, say, H2. Overall, we have seen a market weakness in the first quarter. Also, our top-end vehicle products could not completely escape from that market weakness. If we look at the sales evolution from a segment structure, globally, we can say that the first quarter was still constrained in terms of supply, but this is on the way to ease.
The easing supply constraints had an immediate impact on the GLC in particular, which means the core segment increased by 8%. On the top-end vehicle side, this is comparatively lower than last year, which was a pretty decent and high level. So the quarter one on the top end is a mixed bag of product transitioning. With 67,000 units, we saw the impacts from the model changeovers at the G-Class, the changeovers, I mean, in high-volume vehicles like the AMG E-Class and the GLCs, as well as supply chain bottlenecks. In the top end, as I just mentioned before, we also saw sales, I mean, a bit lower. That also impacted, I mean, on the S-Class. However, S-Class remains the undisputed leader in all regions. Overall, we see that sales should improve over the quarters.
The top-end mix should also improve in H2 as well while we continue to take a cautious view on the market overall. If we look on the best side of things in the first quarter, the xEV share is at the prior year level with EQC and Smart reaching the end of their life cycles in H1. We also see some slowdown in the EV adoption rate across the industry, and therefore, we adapt our offerings to it. In this period of uncertainty in terms of the EV transitioning, our top-notch plugins can play an important role in this transitioning. Cars financials, page 5, revenues down in line with the volume. ASP at EUR 75,000, EBIT at EUR 2.3 billion adjusted, cash flow CFBIT at EUR 2.3 billion. Let's go through the EBIT walk in more detail on the page 6. So the return on sales adjusted is at 9% in the first quarter.
How did we get there? Number one, the bucket volume structure net pricing is down driven by the lower volume, the mixed impact as I outlined before, a net pricing which is in total positive, and additional measures, investments into the product life cycle to keep the products at the cutting edge. Furthermore, we see in the bridge FX negative due to the Turkish lira, whereas on the industrial performance side, we see a positive evolution. The main effects here are tailwinds from lower raw material prices and improved operational efficiencies, which suggests that we're doing our homework in terms of the efficiencies. The R&D spend is slightly below prior year level. Main effects in the other bucket of -EUR 200 are the BBAC at equity result and the absence of some prior year one-time effects.
On the adjustment side, we see EUR 133 million upside related to legal proceedings in the diesel. You might have heard the positive news for our company that the DOJ has closed the criminal inquiry into Mercedes-Benz related to diesel emissions in the United States. Here, I would like to point out that the EUR 133 million results from various developments and assessments and may not necessarily relate only to one specific proceeding or case. With this all together, the EBIT is booked at EUR 2.5 billion with a ROS at 9.6%. Obviously, this is not, I mean, the level where we want to be. We'll talk later in terms of where we want it to be for quarter two and subsequent quarters. On the cash flow side, cars, page seven, the CFBIT is at EUR 2.3 billion with a cash conversion at 1, slight tailwind from working capital at EUR 0.3 billion, all in balanced.
Net investments in PPE and in intangibles are lower than the depreciation, which means that the investments are prioritized and stringently managed. The other line includes adjustments of the BBAC at-equity result in the absence of a dividend in the first quarter. So if you turn to the van side, a strong start into the year with regard to sales driven by the commercial vans, especially strong performance, I mean, in the U.S. and in China. Our strong product portfolio has been further supported with the launch of the new eSprinter and the midsize vans. That product substance and portfolio, the healthy mix, robust net pricing, and price premium combined with efficiency measures, all in all, resulted in another quarter with very good financial performance on the van side.
At the same time, obviously, we continue to prepare for VAN.EA with a groundbreaking in Vitoria being the latest example. Sales numbers on the van side, total sales 7% up in all regions. As I just said before, the all-new EV portfolio has been launched in Q1, therefore, not leaving traces in Q1 yet, so being available in the quarters to come. And with this, we obviously expect also the EV share to increase with the new eSprinter and the midsize EQV and eVito once they're fully available. Key numbers on page 10 for vans, all figures up. Revenue is up in line with the volume. EBIT adjusted up by 11% to EUR 800 million, and also the cash conversion up by more than 50%. EBIT bridge on page 11, so return on sales adjusted at 16.3%. Where is it coming from?
Significant tailwind from the volume structure pricing bucket with increased volume with positive structure, healthy pricing supported by the product substance. On the industrial performance side, we have a bit of a headwind from higher inflation and supply chain-related costs. With all of this, I mean, the EBIT adjusted is at EUR 800 million. On the adjustments, same comment as for cars related to legal proceedings and diesel. On the cash flow side of vans, the CFBIT reported EUR 0.6 billion, adjusted EUR 0.7 billion, cash conversion EUR 0.9 billion, moderate working capital uplift. The net investments exceed the depreciation. No surprise as we've invested in our plants to make them ready for the recently announced models as well as the VAN.EA generation to come. On the other buckets, same comment as on cars. On mobility, what can we see here in terms of the highlights in the first quarter?
New business, I mean, remained at the same level. We see in China penetration rates lower due to significant competition in the local banking sector. The xEVs see increasing acquisition rates. Mobility continues to support the ramp-up of the EVs with every second vehicle being supported by MBM financing options. The profitability of the new acquisitions continues to improve. The increase in the cost of credit risk is mainly driven by the development in the U.S. And at the same time, we continue to develop, I mean, our charging business with more charging hubs already being up and running in the first quarter. On page 14, the key numbers, new business, as I just mentioned before, at the same level, portfolio also roughly same level as at year-end 2023. And for the EBIT, we look on the next page on the walk, page 15.
So as we guided for in the quarter one, we said, I mean, would be in single-digit territory. That's what you can see here on the chart. How did we get there? Higher cost of credit risk mainly driven by the U.S. due to increased credit losses in the consumer segment were one of the key drivers. Besides the continued improved acquisition margin, we see a positive impact from the development of the portfolio versus, I mean, the first quarter. However, the overall portfolio margin is still under pressure as it takes time for the improved acquisition margin to be reflected in the portfolio. At the same time, we also see an impact from a bit lower remarketing results at Athlon. And we also included in these numbers the investments in terms of the charging business for the first quarter.
With all of that, I mean, this is at 8.5% return on equity. Group numbers, page 16. So cars, vans, mobility, I already explained, leaves the RECON, the consolidation item. Here, basically, we find the at-equity result of Daimler Trucks with a bit more than EUR 200 million included. The EBIT adjusted at EUR 3.6 billion. After the adjustments I elaborated before, we see a group EBIT reported at EUR 3.9 billion. How did we turn that into cash? Page 17, income taxes. I mean, obviously, division evolution, I mean, I explained already before. Income taxes at -EUR 0.7 billion, a bit lower. That's the usual seasonality. And we have a slightly negative impact due to interest received, seasonal pension effect, and a bit of others in the RECON items.
All in all, I mean, a pretty strong cash flow at EUR 2.2 billion in the first quarter and cash adjustments of EUR 90 million for legal proceedings related to diesel. Looking at the NIL evolution, page 18. So end of the quarter, we see a comfortable EUR 33.6 billion. That has been supported by the cash flow, obviously, of EUR 2.2 billion. At the same time, we bought back shares for around EUR 300 million. Let me update you shortly on the capital allocation, page 19. On the chart, you see on the left-hand side what we announced in February in terms of our new capital allocation framework. How do we implement it now? In May 2024, right after the AGM, we will start with our already announced additional EUR 3 billion share buyback program.
From then onwards, and I think this is the piece of news here, both buyback programs, the remaining EUR 4 billion and the new EUR 3 billion, will run in parallel. They will be executed by an independent bank, which makes its trading decisions, obviously, without influence by ourselves. As a milestone, we expect buybacks to reach a total of around EUR 4 billion by quarter three this year and to finish with a total share of buybacks up to EUR 7 billion all in all in first quarter 2025 before the AGM. As of today, approximately 13 months after we started our initial share buyback, we have already acquired approximately EUR 2.3 billion. This means in around, I mean, 11 remaining months, we plan to buy back additional shares in the amount of up to EUR 4.7 billion.
Both share buybacks will be executed through the stock exchange with the purpose of redeeming the shares at the end of the program before AGM 2025. As we said, we intend to ask for renewal of the authorization for SBBs in our AGM in 2025 to further continue share buybacks in line with the share buyback policy. With any share buyback, we'll keep, however, flexibility on the execution in case of unexpected market developments. So let me sum it up. On this one here, I would say cash flow generation remains one of the key focus topics of the company, as you can see, with the cash flow in the first quarter and capital allocation, shareholder return, obviously, equally important to us. With this, let's turn to the outlook on page 21.
For the assumptions, please read, I mean, the chart carefully, what is written there in terms of economic, macroeconomic, and global uncertainties. Let's jump to the car side in terms of the situation with regard to the supply. So we see that the current supply bottlenecks are on the way to ease on GLC and on E-Class and are expected to improve further. The Q1 is considered, I mean, to be the trough in terms of the sales. Quarter two should be better already. What does it mean for the sales guidance? Total car unit sales we expect at prior year level with all-new E-Class and GLC expected to support the core segment development this year and the top-end vehicle segment improving versus the first quarter level due to the product transitioning, which I emphasized, I mean, before.
Looking at the regions, in Europe overall, we see a sentiment which is unchanged. The more detailed picture, I mean, in Europe shows, however, a bit of a heterogeneous picture in the different markets. With regard to China, we do see the availability of products, I mean, to improve, in particular on E-Class. Here, we see a very good product acceptance for this one and others, like, I mean, the GLC. So from the product portfolio side and an availability perspective, we see growth potential. However, overall, in terms of market assessment, I mean, for China, we remain a cautious perspective. On the U.S., we still see a solid momentum for sales and demand with a positive year-on-year development. Positive effects come, in particular, on the SUV side. And here, I would mention the GLC. On the xEV share, we confirm the guidance at 19%-21%.
Be aware, our consolidated Smart sales are running out since the new Smart is not part of the reported sales figures anymore. On the adjusted return on sales cars guidance, this is unchanged at 10%-12%. So how do we want to get there with the 9% in the first quarter? Well, we do expect the volume to increase over the quarters. We clearly target the mix improvement in the second half of the year. We want to hold pricing and defend it at the current levels. We clearly see raw materials improving further, generating further tailwinds. At the same time, we see supply chain-related costs generating further headwinds. However, all in all, material costs remain a net positive, i.e., a further tailwind. So with this, all in all, we confirm 10%-12% return on sales adjusted in a continued demanding environment.
For PPE, R&D, cash conversion rate adjusted for cars, all unchanged. So with this, I would move to the van side. So here, the guidance is unchanged. We had a strong quarter one as we walked through before. With the start into the year, we have a comfortable cushion, I mean, for the remainder of the year. Considering current macro developments and uncertainties with regard to H2, we stay rather prudent and confirm full-year guidance at 12%-14% return on sales adjusted. We also expect a healthy quarter two in terms of return on sales. Market demand is expected to be softening in private and commercial van side. Full-year guidance on all the other KPIs are unchanged. On mobility, the adjusted return on equity is also unchanged in the range of 10%-12% for the full year.
We see quarter one as the trough with improvements in the second half of the year despite the further increase in the ramp-up cost of our charging infrastructure. So how do we get there from the 8.5% in the first quarter? Positive effects from the increased acquisition margins translating into the portfolio, as I emphasized before, and some improvements in the cost of credit risk compared to quarter one. On the group guidances that follows, page 22 follows the same premises as the segment guidance. All group guidances KPIs are confirmed. With this, I would wrap it up here in terms of the summary, the takeaway from the first quarter. So we clearly expect the volumes, I mean, to come up. We do see quarter one as the trough. We have a great product lineup.
We talked about the top-end vehicle products, I mean, to come into the market in quarter two and beyond. In particular, I mean, in H2, we see a strong potential and momentum here from the products and further on in 2025, obviously. I emphasized the G-Class, the GT, the E-Class, AMG versions, the GLC, AMG versions, and a lot of products to come in 2025 and beyond. At the same time, we stay flexible on the transitioning from ICE to EVs and do our homework in terms of efficiency while staying focused on the cash generation and on capital allocation. With this, I would now be happy to take your questions.
Thank you, Harald. Ladies and gentlemen, you may ask your questions now. I will identify the questioner by name.
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We start the Q&A, and the first question goes to Tim Rokossa from Deutsche Bank.
Yep. Good morning, gentlemen. Thank you. It's Tim from Deutsche Bank. Harald, you have a number of things going for you. There's a really strong buyback now in parallel. The free cash flow remains strong. Vans is amazing. But obviously, the 9% cars margin is really tough to swallow this morning. We knew that Q1 would be weaker. This is still weaker than most had anticipated. You know how important this KPI is.
So it is quite crucial for you guys to rebuild the story with this very strong decline that we have now seen for multiple quarters in a row. You say that Q1 was the trough. Will Q2 already see a material turning point for the cars margin? Will it be above 10%, or is this sort of like a slow transition into the second half? And we have to wait for that time to really see this. Secondly, this is a pretty busy auto morning. You see a couple of consistent themes from the reporting. Pricing seems to hold up very well in the mass market as well as in the premium market. Mix is not great, and volume seems to be quite weak for everyone. On the positive side, that tells us the industry remains very price disciplined. We wanted that. It's good.
But at the same time, it is quite curious why everyone really struggles on the volume side and talks about product availability being an issue and a lot better volumes to come in H2. Can that really be the case? And what are you preparing in terms of pricing for if everyone really needs to make up a lot of volume with all the newly available models launched in H2? Thank you.
Yeah. Thank you very much, Tim. So on the first question, how do we exit from the 9% ASAP? I can say very clearly, I mean, I'm not happy with the 9% in the first quarter. Very, very clear. And that's, I mean, where there's a lot of emphasis on getting out of that territory as quickly as we can.
What do we expect to happen in the second quarter without giving, I mean, a detailed guidance now for the quarter? But clearly, I mean, we target, I mean, volume higher in the second quarter than in Q1. That's why I did say before that quarter one is a trough. I do see that on the material cost, in particular on raw materials, I mean, there should be further tailwind, I mean, in the second quarter. I think that gives opportunity to improve in the second quarter already. And clearly, I mean, I would have the ambition that we see a double-digit again in the second quarter. Whereas, I mean, the mixed improvements rather kicks in the second half of the year in terms of top-end vehicle availability and further ramp-up given the supply constraints.
So that should be the trajectory, I mean, to get to the full-year guidance of 10%-12%. In terms of your second question, so much stuff to come. I have a bit of a different perspective, if I may say. You could see the high level of, yeah, demand materializing on GLC, GLC availability with 8% up in the first quarter on the core driven by the GLC. What is my message here? These products are in high demand. So it's a product substance which is driven which drives the market dynamics. And we see exactly, I mean, the same market feedback demand on the E-Class. Also in China, we were constrained also in other overseas markets, in particular in South Korea. So once the products are now available in these markets, we really see, I mean, the demand for customers for it with healthy pricing level.
We stay competitive, but the pricing levels on the products, I mean, are healthy. I commented before, are stable. So as we discussed, I think, at earlier occasions, I mean, the heat is rather on the EV pricing. The ICE pricing is in a solid territory.
Sounds good. Thank you.
Thank you, Tim. We continue with George Galliers from Goldman Sachs.
Yes. Good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. The first question I had, which was a little bit related to Tim's question, was just with respect to the drop in wholesales that we saw in Q1. Obviously, if we compare that to the run rate of the prior three quarters, it looks like you had around a 60,000, 50,000-60,000 unit drop.
Could you just help sort of break down what the buckets are there in terms of how much of that is E-Class changeover, how much of that is maybe due to demand dynamics, and how much of it is a result of the supply chain constraints that you flagged? And then the second question I had was a more general question. One of your peers at their full-year results called for a comprehensive review of EU fleet CO2 legislation. Do you share the view that this should be revisited? And would a change in legislation actually prove economically a net benefit for you given the ongoing investments in battery electric vehicles at this point in time? Thank you.
Yeah. Thank you, George.
Well, I would say in terms of the volume drop in the first quarter compared to previous year and compared to where we want to be on the full-year basis, product availability is still, I mean, the number one in terms of volume size. And that refers, I mean, a lot to E-Class availability. Number two, I would say, is then the product transitioning in various segments, but in particular on the top-end side. And number three, I think all in all, is some softness on the market in the top-end, I mean, in China and maybe also a bit in overseas. So that's the ranking, how I would see it.
You can read from the confirmation of the full-year sales guidance, I mean, that obviously, we do expect to overcome that quarter one situation, as I just commented before, following, I mean, Tim's question already, I mean, with quarter two sales being up and then further progression in H2. Your second question in terms of revisiting CO2 legislation, I think, if I'm not mistaken, there is a juncture in 2025 at the EU level to see where the EV penetration stands with regard to the 2035 ICE ban. I think that, I mean, that probably makes perfect sense in order to see whether the customer demand is there to support the transitioning as initially envisaged. Therefore, taking a pragmatic view, I think we support that perspective.
However, let me say, at the same time, as we start to be a bit too nervous and I think, I mean, too much on the back foot in terms of EV transitioning in these days, it remains our objective to go electric. It remains our objective to go CO2 neutral. And therefore, I think keeping ambitious targets also in terms of EV transitioning is what we globally support in line with our strategy.
Thank you, George. And we continue with Stephen Reitman from Bernstein Société Générale.
Yes. Thank you very much. Some more comments, please, on how you see the market in China developing. You mentioned that the E-Class has been very well received. Could you talk also about the general environment you're seeing both on ICE and for your BEVs in terms of incentive activity and your pricing level there, please?
Yep. Thanks, Stephen.
So if we zoom a bit more in-depth on the China market, number one, availability on E-Class, as I emphasized. So once, I mean, that is coming up, we can see a demand, I mean, for the product also at healthy pricing level. We clearly see a very strong field of competitors and product availabilities in the EV space. I think many of you were in Beijing, I mean, last week on the show. So definitely a very strong supply of products, I mean, in the EV space. And we positioned ourselves here, I mean, on the EV side. But as you can see also from the numbers, we're not artificially pressing or trying to buy a share with the products on the EV space, I mean, in China. So we are rather leveraging, I mean, the products where we feel intrinsic, I mean, customer demand as just outlined before.
The number three, I would mention that globally, given the macro evolution, I mean, in China and still, I think, some lack of consumer comfort and given the consumer sentiment, we see the dynamics of the market still being at a slower pace, including the top-end segment, which also, I mean, leaves some traces in the first quarter and probably also for the full year. However, this is not related, I think, to our products as we see, I mean, that our products in the top-end space in particular, I mean, the S-Class remain absolutely market leader, not only in China but in all of the markets. But that is an evolution which hits, I mean, also top-end globally. So that's what I would say roughly in terms of the dynamics on the China market.
Thank you, Stephen.
And the next gentleman in line is José Asumendi from JP Morgan.
Thank you very much. José from JP Morgan. Good morning, Harald. Just a couple of questions, please. The first one, can you please quantify how many units did you miss in terms of deliveries in Q1 for Mercedes-Benz cars due to the supply of bottlenecks? And can you maybe just give us a few more examples of why you think these bottlenecks are easing into the second quarter? Is this something that you already see in Q2? It looks like the topic has been dragging for a couple of quarters. So any anecdotes you have on those bottlenecks easing, that will be great. And then second, can you comment a bit on your share of electric cars in China? So zooming into China, how do you think about the powertrain mixing in the region?
We're seeing one of your competitors has a higher share of BEVs, a quite high share of BEVs in China. Do you plan to increase the share of electric vehicles in your Chinese sales in the coming quarters, or do you plan to keep it stable in 2024 versus 2023? Thank you.
Yeah. On your first question, José, I mean, as I just commented before, the sales or the volume impact in the first quarter, I mean, the most important in there was the product, I mean, availability given the supply constraints and what, again, mentioned E-Class in terms of the given the unit sales being the most impacted area still in the first quarter.
On the other side, you could see, I mean, with the GLC availability that this is coming up, which gives, I think, confidence that once the availability on E-Class is there, that we also see this one improving in the quarters to come. In terms of the EV share, as I just commented, we follow, I mean, customer demand. We're not pushing excessively, I mean, the products, I mean, here into the market. We want to protect, I mean, the product substance. We also want to protect margin. And that's why I would say we rather see an EV share globally this year which is rather stable at 19%-21%. That also applies, I would say, for the market of the EVs, I mean, in China. But this is a very important point. Let me take the opportunity of your question to go beyond the quarter.
We are in a situation right now where we do not have EV offerings in all important segments of the market. Here, I look very much into 2025 and then further into 2026 when MMA comes to market, which obviously will have a much larger, much broader offering in terms of EV vehicles in the entry segment. And then I'm looking very much to electric C-Class and GLC 2026 to come to markets, which obviously is the area where we see most of the EV growth in these days where, I mean, given the lifecycle evolution of EQC, which we commented, I mean, earlier in the call, we don't have a product offering at this juncture. So that explains, I would say, why you see different dynamics also in terms of EV evolution between market participants. At our end, this is a function of product availability.
And the products which are to come, MMA and C-Class and GLC electric, we are very confident that they're going to meet customer expectations towards, I mean, Mercedes products in the years 2025 and 2026. And therefore, I mean, we're going to build a curve on the EV share not only in China but also in the rest of the world with these products to come. I think this is very important that we have a good understanding in terms of the product sequences. And here, there is really good stuff, and many of you have seen the products and I think share our belief that they're going to make a difference in the market.
Thank you so much. Very clear.
Thanks, José. We continue with Philippe Houchois from Jefferies.
Yes. Good morning. Thank you for letting me ask the question. My question is on R&D.
There was a nice tailwind to the Q1 performance, and I'm just trying to understand how much of that is seasonal weakness that will kind of normalize back. And also in the broader context, as we look at potentially the industry having to manage a longer transition to EVs than initially thought, to what extent there's a need to reinvest in a longer lifespan for ICE. And also, as many of us were in China last week, and we see that interest in plug-in hybrids in the U.S. and in China and the return or the expansion of the range extenders. And any thoughts that the need within the Mercedes portfolio to consider range extenders as, again, a longer transition into a world of BEVs? Thank you.
Thanks, Philippe. Absolutely. You're right.
I mean, on the plug-ins, I think they can play a very important role in many markets in terms of, I mean, the transitioning. I would dare to say that probably we have, I mean, the richest, the broadest, the most versatile, the most useful portfolio of plug-ins, I mean, in the market with autonomy, with range of 100-130 km autonomy. So you can do basically most of the missions a week on a fully electric basis. But then once you need the range, you have the combustion engine to take you further. We can see also in the quarter one that the plug-in share, I mean, is at a bit of higher level than in previous quarters. The products are there. So it's not that we need to invest R&D into it. They are ready to hit the street.
So I think this is a jewel in the toolbox which we can leverage. We're happy if the market demand supports that, not only China but in many other markets, U.S. as well, in the future as we go through this transitioning. In terms of the investments for the EVs, let me be very clear. We do not slow down the investments on the EV side. Despite some doubts in terms of the pace of transitioning, we don't take a tactical approach here. No. We keep the strategic focus in terms of investing into the EV products. I commented before on MMA in 2025, on GLC and C-Class in 2026, but obviously, more stuff to come, I mean, thereafter. So we stay full throttle on in terms of the investment on the EV side.
Also on the ICE side, we do a lot to keep the products, I mean, at the cutting edge. In the quarter one bridge, I also said that we invest into measures to further improve cutting-edge technology and content in the vehicles, not only for new vehicles but over the lifecycle. So the ICE portfolio, which is in the market, has a great future and therefore can support with healthy margins. Overall, well, what you can see in the quarter one, I would not take it times four in terms of fully R&D and investments. A bit of phasing, as always, on the R&D side. You can see a bit as well, I mean, that we are prioritizing the investments. Not each and every idea being brought forward is being passed.
So despite the focus on EV investments, on technology investments, software, MB.OS, drivetrain, however, we prioritize, and that's what you also see in the numbers with this, I mean, on the margin side but also on the cash flow side if you look into the first quarter. So these are, I think, I mean, the elements at work.
Great. Thank you.
Thanks, Philippe. And the next gentleman in line is Henning Cosman from Barclays.
Yeah. Thank you. Good morning. Thanks for taking the question. I had a couple of questions on pricing, please. Firstly, if you could remind us if in the net pricing, you include the residuals or the remarketing gains and the year-over-year change of that. And if you could remind us how this is trending and how you see this developing in the course of the year.
If you could perhaps give us the EUR million impact in the first quarter and how you see it trending in the course of the year. Then the second part of the pricing question is if you could, again, help us reconcile the pricing and how it's holding up for you. And you said you see it holding up for yourself. And I'm always trying to reconcile that with the headline discounts that we're seeing in the market, not only in China but also in the U.S. where we get this third-party data. It doesn't seem to reconcile with the strong pricing that you're continuing to enjoy.
So if you could please help us understand, again, is this a function of list prices still improving for you and net, despite higher discounts, that's still stable, or is there a part that the dealers are currently still digesting and how you think about the sustainability of that element, or might you have to start digesting a bit more of the discount yourself in the course of the year and into next year? Thank you very much.
Thanks, Henning. On the first question with regard to the remarketing used car business, as we guided for in the full-year guidance in February, we do see some softening on the used cars which is included in the volume, structure, pricing bucket on the EBIT walk. However, not in the commentary on the pricing. We said pricing stable. So you can rather, I mean, allocate that to structure or so.
In terms of what is the evolution, I mean, in the expected evolution, I mean, in 2024. So we ended 2023 with a pretty decent situation, I would say, in terms of the used car remarketing results still being in the four-digit territory, in the low four-digit territory, higher than what we initially thought. However, we do expect, I mean, some softening, part of which we could see in the first quarter, some further softening. We do anticipate at this juncture, I mean, for the remainder of the year, which should still leave us, I mean, with a healthy three-digit, mid- to h`igh- three-digit million remarketing result in the full year 2024. I hope that explains a bit, I mean, the building blocks, I mean, on that element.
In terms of the second question, the pricing dynamics, why are we saying that, I mean, pricing has been kept stable in the first quarter? Clearly, this is, I mean, the sum of new pricing for vehicles to come to market. So the MSRP evolution, including year-on-year escalation update, and the discount evolution on the other side. So we continued our pillar two strategy, value over volume, in terms of product positioning on the MSRP side. We used some flexibility, I mean, here and there, I mean, on commercial measures to stay tactically competitive. And the sum of the two is a net positive.
Let me say at the same time, however, as you guys obviously spot each and every movement and each and every discount the dealer is giving on an individual vehicle, at the end of 2023 but also into, I mean, quarter one, we had some stock measures and stock clearances, so to say, cleansing which has been done, I mean, by dealers, and that, I mean, yielded, I mean, some higher-level discounts, I would say, in particular, I mean, on the EV side. And we look at that very carefully. And then we take respective, I mean, conclusions in terms of how much supply is healthy, how much supply can be digested or is demanded by customers in view of the stock at dealers, stock at our end. And then if need be, we do adjust.
So therefore, I mean, I do expect that some of these measures you did observe should not be with us for the remainder of the year. On the ICE side, overall, I mean, the pricing is at a more comfortable level, at a healthier level than on the EV side.
Thank you.
Thanks, Henning. And we conclude the Q&A with Horst Schneider from Bank of America.
Yeah. Thank you. Can you hear me?
Loud and clear.
Okay. Excellent. Thank you. I just have got some smaller items left in terms of questions. What I'm observing basically for a while is that your interest income gets pretty strong. So the run rate that we are seeing basically since Q4, can we extrapolate that now for the next few quarters that we offer kind of EUR 150 million+ net interest income?
The number two that I have relates to the bridge items, foreign exchange, and also industrial performance. However, you said industrial performance is going to remain strong. So we can expect for the next few quarters that we see an even better number than we did in Q1. Is that right? And in terms of foreign exchange burden, is that something that will now carry through the year, or that is something which will peter out maybe in next few quarters?
Thanks, Horst. So the credit in terms of the improved interest rate results, I mean, I'm happy to pass it to Steffen, managing that with his treasury head. But maybe not at a EUR 150 million run rate a quarter. It would take it slightly down, I would say. Maybe still in the three-digit territory but just at the beginning of it.
He's nodding with the head, so I suggest, I mean, that is a close-to-true statement. On the other items, FX, frankly, is a bit difficult, I would say, to predict. I'm not claiming to have a crystal ball in front of me in terms of the key currencies evolution. What we do observe, however, now since a while is the evolution of the Turkish lira. So maybe this is still, I mean, constituting some headwind which we try to offset on pricing side. Goes without saying. Thanks to remind us on the industrial performance. I mean, this is really the name of the game in terms of the effort of the teams in all areas. In supply chain management, try to materialize cash in, the raw material, I mean, evolution which should be further beneficial.
I mean, as we go through the year, it is the effort of the teams to mitigate, minimize claims coming through the supply chain in terms of inflation claims or capacity-related claims. Here, I still see some further headwind, I mean, on these kind of one-off claims but trying also to leverage, I mean, commercial and technical efficiency in the supply chain. So an extra effort, I mean, has been set up here by the purchasing teams to extract more value, not necessarily saying, I mean, cash out of the supply chain but more value out of the supply chain. So it's really, I mean, a gigantic effort which, all in all, on the material cost of the vehicles, of the products, I mean, should provide us some further tailwind as we go through the year but not limited to the supply chain.
Obviously, also in our operational field and environment, we took quite significant operational objectives in terms of further HPV evolution, efficiency gains, fixed cost reduction in operations to drive efficiencies through the factories and the whole company. So altogether, these efforts in terms of efficiencies, be it supply chain, be it operations, I mean, internally, should provide us with tailwind for the quarters to come.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Horst. So, ladies and gentlemen, thanks a lot for your questions, for being with us today. We know it's a busy day for you as well. Also, thank you very much to Harald for answering the questions. As always, IR remains at your disposal to discuss further topics. Have a great morning, great afternoon, and great evening. Thank you very much, and goodbye.