Mercedes 2006 Annual Report Download - page 56

The world’s major markets for commercial vehicles continued
to expand in 2006. In North America, demand for trucks increased
once again (+10%). However, this increase was due not only to
the healthy economy, but above all to a boost in sales because of
stricter emission regulations coming into force at the beginning
of 2007. There was a distinct decrease in demand at the end of
the year, especially for heavy and medium trucks. In Western
Europe, unit sales of commercial vehicles also increased once again
in 2006. Truck sales were boosted in this market by pull-forward
purchases triggered by the introduction of digital tachographs in
May 2006 and the mandatory introduction of the Euro 4 emission
limits in the fall. In Japan, sales of heavy and medium trucks also
rose in the year 2006. In China, there was a slight upturn of the
commercial-vehicle market following the decline in the previous
year.
Business developments
Unit sales. DaimlerChrysler sold a total of 4.7 million vehicles
in 2006 (2005: 4.8 million).
The Mercedes Car Group sold 1,251,800 vehicles, surpassing the
prior-year figure by 3%. The Mercedes-Benz brand increased
its unit sales by 5% to 1,149,100 vehicles, thus strengthening its
worldwide market position in the premium-car segment despite
the tougher competition. The increase was primarily due to the
great success of the new models launched in 2005, in particular
the new S-, M- and B-Class. The new CL- and GL-Class presented in
the year 2006 and the new generation of the E- and SL-Class
were also given a very positive reception by the market and con-
tributed to the overall success of the Mercedes-Benz brand.
Unit sales by the smart brand decreased to 102,700 cars (2005:
124,300), but the discontinuation of the smart forfour must be
taken into consideration. Unit sales of the smart fortwo developed
positively. More units were sold than planned, in the ninth and
last year of production before the changeover to the new model
(see pages 82 ff).
The Chrysler Group launched a total of ten new products in 2006,
and significantly expanded its sales outside the United States.
However, the main factors affecting business development were
the extremely intense competition and the difficult market
situation in the United States, where the structure of demand
shifted unexpectedly fast to the disadvantage of the Chrysler
Group’s product range. As a result of increased fuel prices and
higher interest rates, demand decreased for large and powerful
minivans, sport-utility vehicles and pickups, while sales of smaller
and more economical vehicles increased. The Chrysler Group had
to significantly scale back its production volumes and shipments in
the second half of the year in order to reduce dealer inventories
and create space for the new products. Total unit sales (factory
shipments) by the Chrysler Group therefore decreased in 2006
to 2.7 million vehicles of the Chrysler, Jeep®and Dodge brands
(2005: 2.8 million); retail sales in the United States decreased
to 2.1 million vehicles (2005: 2.3 million) and US market share fell
to 12.6% (2005: 13.2%). Since most of the new models were
not launched until the end of the year, they were not yet able to
offset the drop in sales of the other products (see page 86 ff).
The Truck Group continued its very positive development of
the prior year in 2006, increasing its unit sales once again by 1%
to a new record of 537,000 heavy, medium and light trucks.
Unit sales by Trucks Europe/Latin America of 142,100 vehicles
were 4% below the prior-year level. Growth in Western Europe
was offset by falling sales in other regions, especially in the Middle
East and Brazil. Unit sales by Trucks NAFTA increased by 3% to
208,300 vehicles. This increase was primarily due to the effect of
purchases being brought forward because of stricter emission
regulations (EPA07) effective as of January 1, 2007. Trucks Asia
made progress compared with the prior year, selling 186,600
vehicles (+4%) of the Mitsubishi Fuso brand. This was the result not
only of advance-purchase effects caused by the introduction of
new emission standards, but above all reflected regained customer
confidence following our quality offensive (see page 90 ff).
40
Mercedes Car Group
Unit sales structure
Chrysler Group
Passenger cars 25%
Light trucks 20%
Sports tourers 10%
Minivans 18%
SUVs 27%
Truck Group
Trucks Europe/Latin America 26%
Trucks NAFTA 39%
Trucks Asia 35%
A-/B-Class 23%
C-/CLK-/SLK-Class 26%
E-/CLS-Class 20%
S-/CL-/SL-Class/SLR/Maybach 9%
M-/R-/GL-/G-Class 14%
smart 8%