“Daimler continues to place great importance on having an international shareholder base,” Daimler’s Chief Financial Officer Bodo Uebber said.

“The trading centre for our shares, however, clearly is Frankfurt – and that is also the case for our international investors.” In the United States, Daimler’s trading volumes have dropped below 5 percent during the past year.

In a statement, Daimler cited “consistently low trading volumes” as one of the reasons for its decision, along with “changed investor behaviour.”

The company said North America would continue to be an important market for Daimler cars, where the company earned nearly one-fourth of its global revenue in 2009. Almost one in every 10 of Daimler’s 256,000 employees works in North America.

The company said it hopes the move will simplify financial reporting procedures and save on fees and administration costs. The Stuttgart-based luxury carmaker isn’t the only German company to leave Wall Street, joining previous de-listers Deutsche Telekom, Eon, Allianz and Bayer.

Daimler expects the changes to take effect in a matter of months. The company said it also plans to apply for delisting with the SEC.

In late March, Daimler agreed to pay fines totalling $185 million as part of a settlement with the SEC and US Justice Department over bribery allegations. The company was accused of making improper payments to government officials in at least 22 countries in exchange for lucrative business contracts.