Mercedes 2006 Annual Report Download - page 107

Divisions |TruckGroup |91
At the 2006 IAA Commercial Vehicles Show in Hanover in Sep-
tember, we presented another new product – the new Mercedes-
Benz Unimog U20. The U20, which has a shortened wheelbase
and a gross vehicle weight of 7.5 to 8.5 metric tons, completes our
range of special-purpose vehicles.
In 2006, to ensure that it is ideally prepared to face future
challenges, the Truck Group began to build a Development and
Testing Center in the vicinity of the Wörth truck assembly plant.
The new 500,000-square-meter facility, which is scheduled for com-
pletion in 2007, will include a test track for truck development
and quality assurance activities. Due to the short distances be-
tween the various working environments, cooperation between
development and production units will improve and powerful syn-
ergy effects will be generated. In addition, the new Development
and Testing Center will help safeguardcompetitiveness.
Renewed increase in unit sales in the NAFTA region. With
its Freightliner brand, the Truck Group is the leading manufacturer
of trucks for long-haulage in North America. Freightliner also
produces delivery trucks and commercial vehicles for the services
sector. Sterling, on the other hand, focuses on delivery trucks
and vehicles for construction industry applications, while the
Western Star brand covers the segment for premium heavy-duty
trucks in North America. School bus business activities are
conducted by our Thomas Built Buses brand, which accounts for
more than one out of every three school buses registered in the
United States and Canada.
Operating in a very positive market environment, the Trucks
NAFTA unit increased unit sales by 3% in 2006 to the record level
of 208,300 vehicles. A particularly large increase was recorded
in the segment for Class 8 heavy-duty trucks, with this positive de-
velopment resulting primarily from vehicle purchases brought
forward due to the more stringent EPA07 emission limits that
came into effect on January 1, 2007. Sales also rose in the seg-
ment for Classes 5-7 medium-duty trucks.
Market share in the NAFTA region declined in both the Class 8
segment (33%; 2005: 36%) and in the Classes 5-7 segment (21%;
2005:23%). This development was largelydue tocapacity bottle-
necks. In fact, at some plants the ordersalready matched the maxi-
mum production capacity as early as the summer of 2006.
Despite this decrease in marketshare, our brands maintained their
marketleadership in the NAFTA Region’s Class 8 segment in
the year under review.
The Sterling 360, a light-duty truckbased on the Mitsubishi Fuso
Canter, has been available in the NAFTA region since the begin-
ning of 2006. This vehicle, which is equipped with a 4.9-liter diesel
engine and a six-speed automatic transmission, is perfect for
the wholesale sector, construction and light delivery applications.
The rapid development and market launch of the Sterling 360
was made possible in particular byclose cooperation within the
Truck Group, and this effective partnership offers an example
of the synergy potential available in the global development and
production network. A total of 440 Sterling 360 models were
sold in North America in 2006.
Atthe Great American Truck Show in Dallas (Texas) in August 2006,
we presented a hybrid-drive prototype truck under the Freight-
liner brand name for the first time. The Business Class M2 106 is
a full-parallel hybrid that can run either on a 44 kW electric
motor or a 170 kW diesel engine. The two drive systems can also
be operated in combination to achieve maximum output. In
addition, the vehicle recovers braking energy, which it converts into
electricity that can be used to power the electric motor.
Tests show that the vehicle consumes much less fuel than a truck
equipped with a conventional diesel drive. The Truck Group will
continue to promote the spread of hybrid vehicles in the North
American market.
Representing the Truck Group’s high-
quality and comprehensive product
portfolio: the Mercedes-Benz Actros,
the Freightliner Coronado and the
Mitsubishi Fuso Canter Eco Hybrid
(from left to right).