By William Boston 

BERLIN -- Daimler AG, the maker of Mercedes-Benz cars, said Wednesday that it would step up cost-cutting efforts in the second half of the year after reporting the company's first quarterly loss in a decade.

Like other leading German auto makers, Daimler is caught between a slowdown in sales and an increase in investment to develop electric and self-driving cars.

This was made worse by an array of one-off issues including recalls of vehicles related to faulty Takata air bags, and criminal investigations into the company's business and emissions systems that prompted EUR4.2 billion ($4.7 billion) in extraordinary expenses in the second quarter.

The Stuttgart-based car manufacturer said earlier this month that these charges would result in a EUR1.6 billion loss before interest and taxes, the company's first quarterly loss since the fourth quarter of 2009.

Ola Källenius, a Swede who became chief executive of the premium car maker in May, replacing longtime CEO Dieter Zetsche, said his first task in the coming months would be to shore up the company's operations and stem the outflow of cash.

"We are intensifying the group-wide performance programs and reviewing our product portfolio in order to safeguard future success," Mr. Källenius said in a statement as the company reported details of its second-quarter earnings.

Forced to issued its fourth profit warning in a year, Daimler released the headline figures from its earnings statement on July 12 as it lowered its overall outlook for the year. Earnings were hit by steep pretax losses at the Mercedes-Benz cars and Mercedes-Benz Vans divisions, which reported losses before interest and taxes of EUR672 million and EUR2 billion, respectively.

Mercedes-Benz, the leader among Germany's big three luxury brands, has seen sales of its flagship passenger cars fall in nearly every major market except China in the first half of the year. Overall, Mercedes-Benz's car sales fell 4.7% to 1.13 million vehicles world-wide in the first six months of the year. Mercedes-Benz's U.S. sales fell 7.2%, the steepest regional decline.

Daimler swung to a net loss of EUR1.33 billion in the second quarter from a profit of EUR1.73 billion a year earlier. Revenue rose 5% to EUR42.7 billion.

Write to William Boston at william.boston@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 24, 2019 04:16 ET (08:16 GMT)