The Chinese corporation will receive the vehicles later this year. The 2,500 Mercedes-Benz Actros vehicles will be manufactured at the truck plant in Wörth, where they will also be adapted to Zoomlion’s special applications for concrete pumps.
In 2011 Daimler sold almost 5,800 Mercedes-Benz trucks in China, making it the market leader among the European competitors in China’s import segment. As a result, China is now the world’s six-largest market for the sale of Mercedes-Benz trucks.
Premium trucks adapted to special applications are particularly needed for China’s rapidly growing construction sector. China is currently planning to invest around 7 trillion RMB (more than €800 billion) in building and expanding urban infrastructures between 2011 and 2015.
In a statement, Hubertus Troska, Head of Mercedes-Benz Trucks and the person responsible for Mercedes-Benz Trucks worldwide, underscored the importance of the new contract: “We are very delighted that our Chinese business partner chose Mercedes-Benz trucks for its challenging applications in the construction industry. This letter of intent deepens our partnership with Zoomlion. It confirms the good image of our Mercedes-Benz trucks and the great capabilities of our young Mercedes-Benz Trucks sales organization in China, which helps us strengthen our market presence.”
Zoomlion Heavy Industry, which was founded in 1992, is one of China’s leading manufacturers of construction machinery. Zoomlion specializes in the development and production of advanced technologies and equipment for machine construction, as well as for energy, environmental, and transportation systems. In addition, it sells its products in more than 70 countries worldwide. In recent years, Zoomlion established a particularly strong presence in the market for concrete construction machinery. Zoomlion has a permanent workforce of about 30,000 employees. The company’s headquarters are located in Changsha in the province of Hunan.
Daimler Trucks is pursuing two strategic goals for the Chinese market. In addition to promoting the sale of high-quality Mercedes-Benz trucks in the premium segment, the company will also participate in China’s promising volume market in the future. Slightly more than a week ago, Daimler announced the launch of BFDA (Beijing Foton Daimler Automotive Co., Ltd), its joint venture with the Chinese truck manufacturer Foton. The joint venture gives Daimler a 50 percent stake in Foton’s business with medium and heavy-duty Auman brand trucks. Once the ramp-up phase is completed, BFDA will have a production capacity of 160,000 units.
China’s market volume for medium and heavy-duty trucks has doubled to more than one million units over the past five years. Last year the Chinese market accounted for around 40 percent of the total worldwide sales of medium and heavy-duty trucks.
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