Daimler AG responds to the interest from decision-makers and users from the public and service sector with a wide range of products. In booth 321 in Hall C4 and in action spaces on the open-air exhibition grounds multifunctional vehicles with innovative special-purpose bodies and comfortable as well as safe workplaces demonstrate attractive solutions for ever more demanding tasks.Star among the special vehicles sporting the “star” is the New Actros, which will be introduced at an international trade show for the first time. The “Truck of The Year 2012” with Palfinger and Meiller special-purpose bodies demonstrates how environmental awareness paired with comfort and dynamism can add value to a municipal vehicle fleet.
The smaller but exceptionally versatile Fuso Canter TF with a new front, optimised functions, ecologically relevant and ergonomically sophisticated technology can be seen among other things with a Variopress special-purpose body from Faun.
The sustainability of the alternative drive system that uses liquefied natural gas is substantiated by the eco-friendly Econic LNG with further expanded operating range for even better cost-effectiveness, while the Sprinter – this time as a Doka version with equipment from Schmidt Winterdienst – provides convincing arguments first and foremost with its flexibility in day-to-day municipal operations.
Five Unimogs on exhibit
The Unimog is represented at the Ifat Entsorga with a total of five “all-rounders” that once more offer compelling evidence of their versatility as powerful, economical, user- and eco-friendly carrier vehicles equipped with street-sweeper equipment, road-marking machine, mowing implement, snowplough or tunnel washing machine.
The Axor and Zetros also offer specific solutions for municipal road maintenance operations.
All vehicles reflect commitment to cost effectiveness and sustainability but also to driver comfort and safety.
Last but not least, an Atego race truck adds further to the appeal of the trade show exhibit.
New record for in-door exhibition space
After the successful premiere of the merged trade shows Ifat and Entsorga in 2010 – some 110,000 visitors from 185 countries and 2730 international exhibitors – the world’s leading trade show for environmental technology 2012 will most likely set new records. For the first time the show will occupy 215,000 square metres of exhibition space, 180,000 square metres thereof in fully booked halls.
Once again the latest innovations and services in the water resources, sewage, waste and raw materials management will be presented. The focus is among other things on waste collection and transport with suitable vehicles and special-purpose bodies as well as on street cleaning and maintenance with summer- and winter-specific equipment. A practice-oriented surrounding programme with discussion forums and live presentations aims at providing the expert audience with in-depth knowledge and new experiences for day-to-day municipal operations.
The doors of this year’s Ifat Entsorga at the “Neue Messe München” will be open 7 to 11 May.
Credits: Daimler AGCopyright © 2012, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.
In 2012 Daimler Trucks aims to build on the successes it posted last year. After sales and revenues had each increased by 20% in 2011, and the results even increased by twice this amount, the division aims to boost its unit sales further this year and achieve Earnings before Interest and Taxes (EBIT) that are at least as high as 2011.
Although the markets in NAFTA and Asia did very well in the first months of 2012, the market situation is rather difficult in Europe and in particular in Latin America. Daimler Trucks expects conditions to improve in the second half of the year. Daimler Trucks is on track to reach its strategic return on sales target of 8% as measured across the business cycle. The target figure is a sustainable average that the division aims to achieve from 2013 on.
“In 2012 we will once again prove that our Global Excellence Strategy is working well. We operate worldwide, our by now five truck brands offer the right products for every region, and we are now just hitting our stride in the growth markets of India and China”, said Andreas Renschler, the Daimler Board of Management member responsible for Daimler Trucks and Daimler Buses, in Stuttgart. The division aims to increase its market share in all regions.
A few weeks ago Daimler Trucks presented the wide range of products offered by the new truck brand BharatBenz in India. These “Made in India” trucks are manufactured in Chennai in the southern part of the country. A total of €700 million was invested in the facility, where the first series-produced vehicles will begin leaving the plant this fall. In the medium term up to 70,000 units can be produced in India each year, and the brand’s product lineup will cover the entire range of vehicles, from light-duty to heavy-duty trucks. At the same time as the subsidiary Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) makes its preparations for the launch of series production, it is also setting up a sales network, which will consist of around 70 dealerships this year.
In December 2011 the Chinese government gave its final approval for the Beijing Foton Daimler Automotive Co., Ltd., Daimler’s joint venture with the local truck manufacturer Foton. The two companies will cooperate on producing medium and heavy-duty trucks for the world’s largest commercial vehicle market. These trucks will be sold under the well-established Auman brand. The joint venture will have an annual production capacity of 160,000 units, and the first jointly manufactured truck is scheduled to roll off the assembly line in the third quarter of the year. The Chinese market for medium and heavy-duty trucks is expected to grow to around 1.5 million units by 2020, compared to around 1.2 million units in 2010.
The outlook for the Indian and Chinese truck markets is therefore very promising for the years ahead. This applies especially to the modern domestic segment, in which both BharatBenz and Auman trucks are offered. According to experts, this segment will account for around half of the global truck market in 2020. The quality of modern domestic trucks is much higher than that of the “low cost” vehicles that are still common in many growth markets. Although the new trucks are more robust than these “low cost” vehicles, their technology is not comparable to that of the premium vehicles from the triad markets. “The rise in truck standards in the growth markets is opening up new opportunities for us — not only for our existing vehicles and components, but also for our new, locally manufactured products,” Renschler said.
The product offensive in the modern domestic segment is meant to help Daimler Trucks attain its medium-term sales targets, amounting to about 500,000 trucks worldwide in 2013 and more than 700,000 units per year by the end of the decade.
In another BRIC country, Russia, the cooperation between Daimler Trucks and the local market leader for heavy-duty trucks, Kamaz, is going well. Sales of Mercedes-Benz truck and Fuso Canter models rose sharply in Russia after the Chelny plant in the Russian republic of Tatarstan began assembling these vehicles in 2010. As a result, more than 1,200 Fuso Canter and around 2,800 Mercedes-Benz trucks had been sold in Russia by the end of 2011.
In order to offer customers in Europe’s largest truck market a customized product bearing the familiar Kamaz brand, the partners presented their first joint truck in Moscow last fall. The vehicle is a Kamaz that contains Daimler components which enable it to comply with the Euro V emissions standard. The truck will be launched on the Russian market in 2014.
The expansion of the division’s global presence and the massive increase in local manufacturing operations are rounding out Daimler’s global truck organization, and the advantages of this arrangement are becoming more apparent day by day. An example of this is the division’s new Global Powertrain, Procurement and Manufacturing Engineering Trucks unit, which bundles the worldwide activities in these fields.
Because the powertrain accounts for more than half of the total costs of a truck, the synergy benefits are obvious. An example of this is the new heavy-duty engine family, in which Daimler invested more than €1 billion. This new generation of engines has streamlined the previous portfolio of four engine families from four plants down to just one global engine platform for four displacement variants, which is manufactured at two locations.
After the engines were introduced at Fuso in Japan and Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA), a European adaptation of this engine is now also used to power the new Actros. Mercedes-Benz’ new OM47x engine generation, which is already available in the new Actros, meets the Euro VI emissions standard, which will go into effect in 2014. The engines share more than 80% of their components worldwide. This results in corresponding benefits due to economies of scale.
The division’s platform and module strategy will extend beyond the powertrain, affecting many more components than just the engines, transmissions, axles, and exhaust treatment systems. The Axor cab, for example, will also be installed in the Indian BharatBenz models in the future.
Daimler Trucks’ platform and module strategy allows it to generate extensive synergies, which will help the division to reach its margin goals. “The message is clear: We aim to become the regional champion wherever we enter the market, and thus also become Number 1 worldwide in our industry,” said Renschler. “Ultimately we want to achieve a sustained average return on sales of 8% per year beginning in 2013 and extending across the business cycle.”
In 2011 Daimler Trucks made considerable progress toward achieving this goal. The return on sales rose to 6.5% from 5.5% in 2010. The return on sales would have even risen to 6.9% had it not been for €32 million in write-offs from the involvement in Kamaz and one-time expenses of €70 million caused by the natural disaster in Japan.
However, Daimler Trucks significantly increased sales, revenues, and earnings compared to the prior year. Vehicle sales substantially exceeded the prior year’s figures in the division’s core regions (NAFTA, Europe, Asia, and Latin America). Total sales worldwide rose by 20% to 425,800 units. Revenues also increased by 20%, to €28.8 billion, while earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) jumped twice as much, or over 40%, to €1.9 billion.
All of the division’s operating units contributed to these good results, with Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) providing the biggest boost. DTNA’s sales skyrocketed by 50% to 118,800 units last year. Demand was particulary driven by the need to renew the aged truck fleets. For the past three decades, the average age of trucks in North America has not been as high as it is today. Thanks to the outstanding market response to its product lineup, DTNA was able to further strengthen its leading position in the segment of vehicles in Classes 6 to 8, where it now has a market share of 31.9% (2010: 31.6%).
Total sales of Trucks Europe/Latin America rose substantially once again, climbing to 159,300 units (2010: 135,200). Sales were therefore back up to the high pre-crisis level achieved in 2007. Western Europe contributed considerably to sales growth. Daimler Trucks once again led the market for medium and heavy-duty trucks there, boosting sales by 14% to 57,100 units. Although the division’s market share dropped slightly in Europe, the full availability of the new Actros “Truck of the Year 2012” in all of the key markets will once again push up market share this year.
Fuso’s performance is particularly impressive. Contrary to the expectations that still prevailed in mid-2011, Fuso was able to increase sales throughout the year by 5% to 147,700 units, despite the disruptions resulting from the natural disaster in Japan in March 2011. The increase was due to the rapid progress of reconstruction work in Japan after the natural disaster, which led to increased transportation needs and thus to a greater demand for commercial vehicles. In Japan itself, Fuso increased truck sales by 9% to 27,000 units.
At 61,900 vehicles, Daimler Trucks achieved a new sales record in Latin America. Despite intense competition, sales remained at the previous year’s high level of 44,100 vehicles in the region’s biggest market, Brazil. Vehicle production in the region was also at a record level.
Daimler Trucks has no intention to slacken its efforts after achieving these successes. The division’s Shaping Future Transportation initiative brings together a wide range of technologies and services that not only make commercial vehicles safer, more economical, and more environmentally friendly, but will also contribute substantially to Daimler Trucks’ future success. The CleanDrive concepts, for example, help to drastically reduce commercial vehicles’ fuel consumption and exhaust gas emissions.
Daimler Trucks has already put more than 500,000 environmentally friendly BlueTec trucks featuring SCR technology on the road. In addition, it has delivered more than 8,000 vehicles with alternative drive systems, including around 2,700 hybrid trucks. What’s more, the new, fourth generation of the Mercedes-Benz Actros is the world’s first long-haulage truck to rigorously meet the future Euro VI emissions standard. Despite the fact that this standard represents a big technological challenge, the new truck also consumes far less fuel than its predecessor.
Fuel consumption isn’t the only important issue for truck customers, however; the total cost of ownership is also a primary concern. These costs can be reduced by a number of truck-related services, including customized financing offers (Daimler Trucks Financial), the renting of trucks at short notice to cover peaks in transportation demand (Mercedes-Benz CharterWay), electronic assistance systems that make workshop stays as short as possible, and technology for managing entire truck fleets (FleetBoard).
These services become especially important for customers in times of economic uncertainty. Services, after-sales activities, and telematics systems now account for around 20% of Daimler Trucks’ revenues.
Credits: Daimler AG
Copyright © 2012, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.
Within the framework of their partnership in China, Mercedes-Benz Trucks and the Chinese construction machinery manufacturer Zoomlion Heavy Industry are intensifying their cooperation. Last Saturday they signed a letter of intent (LoI) for the delivery of 2,500 Mercedes-Benz trucks. The letter of intent concerns heavy-duty Mercedes-Benz Actros 3341 and 4141 truck models.
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.
Credits: Daimler AG
Copyright © 2012, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.
Daimler’s subsidiary Mercedes-Benz Türk has reeled in another major sale. By placing an order for 150 Mercedes-Benz Actros 1844 LS trucks, Turkish fruit and vegetable wholesaler Cekok Gida continues to put its trust in the dependability of Mercedes-Benz trucks. The food company relies primarily on Mercedes-Benz Actros trucks, which make up about 90 percent of the firm’s total fleet of more than 240 vehicles. In addition to playing a major role in producing citrus fruits and other products and supplying them to wholesale markets in several large Turkish cities, Cekok Gida exports its high-quality goods especially to the member states of the European Union.
“We’re delighted that Mercedes-Benz Türk has once again posted a major three-figure order for the Mercedes-Benz Actros,” says Wolf-Dieter Kurz, President and CEO of Mercedes-Benz Türk. “Because Turkey is an essential sales market for Mercedes-Benz Trucks, we want to continue to boost sales here substantially in the future.” Following the sale of more than 200 Actros trucks to the chocolate manufacturer Tören Gida in November 2011, this constitutes another major order for the Turkish subsidiary.
At the symbolic handover of two Actros 1844 LS trucks in Istanbul, Ilhan Cekok, CEO of Cekok Gida, reiterated the reasons for the investment decision and expressed his trust in the brand with the star. “The great service network, low operating and maintenance costs, a high resale value, and especially the excellent partnership with Mercedes-Benz were the decisive reasons why we decided to add more Actros trucks to a fleet that already contained many Mercedes-Benz vehicles,” he said. “The Actros particularly shines with its low fuel consumption and handling stability.”
In his speech in Istanbul, Wolf-Dieter Kurz underlined that Mercedes-Benz Türk puts great emphasis on contributing to the business success of customers like Cekok Gida. “We are working hard to meet the different customer demands in a continuously growing and changing market,” he said. “We are closely monitoring market developments so that we can continue to offer state-of-the-art trucks of the highest quality. We are looking forward to continue to work with Cekok Gida.”
Mercedes-Benz Türk
The Daimler subsidiary Mercedes-Benz Türk was established in Istanbul in 1967. It began producing buses for the Turkish market in 1968. The Aksaray plant launched truck production in 1986. The facilities in Aksaray and Hosdere are key elements of Daimler’s global production network.
Credits: Daimler AG
Copyright © 2012, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.
Production at Daimler Trucks plants around the world will remain at full capacity into the first quarter of 2012. The medium and heavy-duty segments are developing positively in the NAFTA region in particular. We expect the truck market in the region to have grown by 35 percent by the time 2011 comes to a close. The European truck market is expected to expand by the same percentage and Japan is headed for growth once again. The high demand for transportation services in the latter market will enable us to return to pre-earthquake levels. Daimler expects the truck market to expand by roughly 10 percent in Brazil, and Mercedes-Benz do Brasil is currently headed toward a new production record.
Daimler Trucks remains optimistic despite some general economic risks. “The truck business is a capital goods business and therefore subject to cyclical fluctuations,” says Andreas Renschler, Member of the Daimler AG Board of Management with responsibility for Daimler Trucks and Daimler Buses. “We’re prepared for these cyclical ups and downs, and the exceptionally difficult year we had in 2008 demonstrated that our business model is effective. Our strategic approach enables us to flexibly adapt our global production systems to any and all sales and market situations, and we also offer the right product range and technologies for every market. In other words, our global sales are evenly balanced.”
Andreas Renschler about the outlook for 2012: “We’re keeping a close eye on the overall economic situation. To date, we expect Daimler Trucks to post another global sales increase in 2012. Things will continue to pick up in the NAFTA region and in Japan. Although the general economic situation creates uncertainties for the truck business in Europe, we’re nevertheless prepared for all types of cyclical developments and can react flexibly as needed.”
Global market growth in the coming years
In view of the anticipated expansion of global truck markets, Daimler Trucks expects to be able to increase annual sales to more than 500,000 units by 2013. The division also plans to be selling 700,000 trucks per year worldwide by the end of the decade. “Because we seek to achieve not only growth but also profitable growth, we have set ourselves the clear objective of reaching an average return on sales of eight percent beginning in 2013 and plan to maintain this level of profitability across the entire business cycle. We’re definitely headed in the right direction”, says Andreas Renschler.
Demand continues to increase rapidly in the new markets. Daimler Trucks is therefore expanding its capacity in emerging markets in particular. Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) will open its truck production plant in April 2012. BharatBenz’s initial production capacity will be 36,000 units per year, which can later be ramped up to 70,000 units. The trucks will be manufactured with a localization rate of 85 percent, which means DICV will take advantage of the Indian supplier industry’s potential from the very start. Daimler Trucks will also further expand its partnership with Kamaz in Russia. The two joint ventures between Kamaz and Mercedes-Benz Trucks, on the one hand, and Kamaz and Fuso on the other, are already up and running and sold a total of 3,400 trucks between January and November 2011 (2010: 1,100 trucks). Kamaz presented the first jointly manufactured truck at the Comtrans show in Moscow. The featured vehicle was a Kamaz truck with Daimler components tailored to the needs of Russia - the largest truck market in Europe.
Now that the final approval has been given for the cooperation with Foton in China, the new joint venture will be able to begin operations in just a few weeks. “The final approval of the joint venture between Daimler Trucks and Foton marks another important step in Daimler Trucks’ Global Excellence Strategy, one that will allow the division to thoroughly participate in the growth of the Chinese truck market over the long term,” says Renschler. Market volume for the medium and heavy-duty segment in China was 1.2 million units in 2010, and forecasts indicate that about 1.5 million trucks over six tons GVW will be sold in China each year by 2020.
Product offensive in Europe, North America, and Asia
Daimler Trucks consistently expanded and modernized its product range in all market regions in 2011. The Freightliner and Western Star brands opened the year with the introduction of state-of-the-art trucks in the vocational segment. Fuso presented a new generation of its high-volume Canter model and the new Actros has given Mercedes-Benz a benchmark truck for the European road freight sector. The new Mercedes-Benz Actros is the result of a substantial investment of more than 10 years of work, over 20 million test driving kilometers, and more than €2 billion spent on development and production technology. The vehicle is in fact the first long-distance haulage truck developed consistently to meet the Euro VI emission requirements. Fuel consumption has been cut by more than 7 percent in the Euro V version of the truck, and even the Euro VI version consumes over four percent less fuel than the predecessor model.
Daimler Trucks’ unparalleled product offensive marks a major step in the implementation of a global modular strategy, the most important example of which is the worldwide introduction of the new heavy-duty engine generation.
The new generation of engines has streamlined the previous range of four engine families from four plants down to just one family of engines manufactured at only two locations. The new generation of engines has already been successfully introduced by Fuso in Japan and by Freightliner and Western Star in the U.S. It also began powering the new Actros this year. The launch of the new engine generation means that Daimler Trucks is now using shared components in markets around the world.
Credits: Daimler AG
Copyright © 2011, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.
Mercedes-Benz do Brasil continues to register a high level of orders for medium-duty and heavy-duty trucks. One of Brazil’s largest construction companies, Camargo Corrêa has now ordered 115 Mercedes-Benz trucks in order to upgrade its fleet. The order encompasses a wide range of products, including medium-duty Atego, heavy-duty Axor and Actros trucks. As part of the government’s Growth Acceleration Program (“Programa de Aceleração do Crescimento”/PAC), Camargo Corrêa is currently involved in a number of infrastructure projects for expansion of roads and rail systems. Brazil is preparing for 2014 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics.
“Demand continues to be on a historically high level for our commercial vehicles in Latin America,” says Hubertus Troska, Head of Mercedes-Benz Trucks Europe and Latin America. “We are answering this demand with a state-of-the-art product range of trucks, buses, and light commercial vehicles. Our lineup includes modern BlueTec 5 technology and fulfills the PROCONVE P-7 emissions standard, which is comparable to Euro V and will go into effect in Brazil in January 2012.”
Camargo Corrêa is using Mercedes-Benz trucks so that it can make sustainable and rapid headway with its construction and infra-structure projects. In addition to 60 heavy-duty Actros 4844 8x4 and nine heavy-duty Axor 3344 6x4 dump trucks for transport of stone and earth, Camargo Corrêa is purchasing ten medium-duty Atego 1725 4x4 and 36 medium-duty FPN cab-over-engine models for the Latin American market. The Atego and FPN models will be used for construction support, including material transport and maintenance operations.
The Mercedes-Benz Actros trucks acquired by Camargo Corrêa are equipped with Mercedes-Benz’ innovative Fleetboard fleet manage-ment system. Fleetboard can reduce fuel consumption by up to ten percent by analyzing driver behavior and providing information on how to achieve better performance through an economical and preventive driving style.
“Our purchase decision took into consideration the durability of the components, the strength of the engines, the high load capacity, and all the other things that the brand offers in its vehicles,” says Carlos Maximiliano de Souza, Supply Manager at Camargo Corrêa. “A big contractor like Camargo Corrêa doesn’t want to buy only a truck, but a complete set — from the beginning to the end, as it should be in a partnership.”
Jürgen Ziegler, President of Mercedes-Benz do Brasil and CEO for Latin America, explains the good order situation as follows: “Our products stand for high performance, reliability, and durability. We offer outstanding value and can greatly boost the efficiency of our customers’ transport activities and increase their profitability.”
Mercedes-Benz do Brasil
Mercedes-Benz do Brasil is the biggest manufacturer of commercial vehicles in Latin America. Its São Bernardo do Campo plant is Daimler’s biggest outside of Germany, and the only one where trucks, bus chassis, powertrains (including engines, transmissions, and axles) and truck cabs are produced at a single location.
Another facility is located in Juiz de Fora, which is also part of Mercedes-Benz’ global commercial vehicle production network. Starting in early 2012, the plant will also produce Mercedes-Benz Actros heavy-duty and Accelo light-duty trucks for the Latin American market in order to fully exploit future growth potential.
One of Brazil’s biggest construction companies
With its 42,000 employees, Camargo Corrêa is one of Brazil’s largest construction companies. It also operates internationally in other South American countries.
Over the past 71 years, the major construction firm has gained extensive experience in numerous infrastructure projects. The company is currently involved in a variety of PAC projects for construction and maintenance of public works, such as bridges, roads, railroad tracks, subways, and much more. Camargo Corrêa has also participated in major Brazilian public works projects, including the São Paulo subway and the airports of Brasilia and Guarulhos.
Credits: Daimler AG
Copyright © 2011, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.
