Mercedes 2008 Annual Report Download - page 46

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The Group
Daimler can look back on a tradition covering more than one
hundred years, which features pioneering achievements in auto-
motive engineering and extends back to Gottlieb Daimler and
Carl Benz, the inventors of the automobile. Today, the Daimler
Group is a leading supplier of superior premium automobiles
and the world’s biggest manufacturer of heavy and medium trucks,
with a wide range of first-class trucks, vans and buses. The
product portfolio is completed by a range of tailored automotive
services. Daimler holds a 22.5% equity interest in the European
Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), a leading com-
pany in the aerospace and defense industries. In addition, during
2008 Daimler acquired 28.4% of the shares in Tognum AG, one of
the world’s leading producers of off-highway engines. Following
the transfer of a majority interest in Chrysler to Cerberus Capital
Management in August 2007, Daimler AG holds an equity inte-
rest of 19.9% in Chrysler, a US automobile manufacturer.
Daimler is active in nearly all of the countries in the world, with
strong brands and a comprehensive portfolio of vehicles ranging
from small cars to heavy trucks, complemented by services along
the automotive value chain. The Group has production facilities
in a total of 19 countries and approximately 7,300 sales centers
worldwide. The global networking of research and development
activities and of production and sales locations gives Daimler con-
siderable potential to enhance efficiency and to gain advanta-
ges in an internationally competitive market. For example, we can
apply our new green drive technologies in a broad portfolio of
vehicles while utilizing experience and expertise from all parts of
the Group.
Of Daimler’s total revenue of €95.9 billion in the year 2008,
49% was generated by Mercedes-Benz Cars, 27% by Daimler
Trucks, 9% by the Daimler Financial Services division and 15%
by the Vans, Buses, Other segment.
At the end of 2008, Daimler employed a total workforce of more
than 270,000 people worldwide.
The products supplied by the Mercedes-Benz Cars division
range from the high-quality small cars of the smart brand to the
premium automobiles of the Mercedes-Benz and AMG brands
and to the Maybach luxury sedans. Most of these vehicles are
produced in Germany, but the division also has production
facilities in the United States, France, South Africa, Brazil, India,
Vietnam, Indonesia and China. Worldwide, Mercedes-Benz Cars
has 17 production sites at present. In order to extend our model
range in the compact-car segment, we decided in June 2008
to build a new plant in Hungary, which is to go into operation in
2012. The most important markets for Mercedes-Benz Cars in
2008 were Germany with 26% of unit sales, the other markets of
Western Europe (31%), the United States (20%), China (4%) and
Japan (3%).
As the world’s leading manufacturer of heavy-duty and medium-
duty trucks, the Daimler Trucks division develops and produces
vehicles within a global network under the brands Mercedes-
Benz, Freightliner, Sterling, Western Star and Mitsubishi Fuso.
The division’s 33 production facilities are in the NAFTA region
(16), Europe (7), South America (1), Asia (8) and Africa (1). In the
context of repositioning our North American truck business,
we will cease production of the Sterling brand in March 2009 and
will close the plants in St. Thomas, Canada in March 2009 and
in Portland, USA in June 2010. In February 2009, we opened a
new plant for the production of heavy trucks in Saltillo, Mexico.
Daimler Trucks’ product range covers light, medium and heavy-
duty trucks for local and long-distance deliveries and cons-
truction sites, as well as special vehicles for municipal applications.
Due to close links in terms of production technology, the pro-
duct range also includes the buses of the Thomas Built Buses and
Mitsubishi Fuso brands. The division’s most important sales
markets in 2008 were Asia (with 33% of unit sales), the NAFTA
region (21%), Western Europe (18%) and Latin America excluding
Mexico (13%).
Business and Strategy