Mercedes 2009 Annual Report Download - page 134

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Difficult market environment leads to lower unit sales and
earnings. With unit sales of 32,500 complete buses and chassis
(2008: 40,600) and revenue of €4.2 billion (2008: €4.8 billion),
Daimler Buses remained by far the leading manufacturer of buses
over eight tons gross vehicle weight in 2009. The decline in unit
sales was largely a result of significantly weaker demand in Latin
America. EBIT of €183 million was significantly lower than the
prior-year figure, primarily due to the lower unit sales.
Strengthened market position in core markets. In Western
Europe, Daimler Buses and its brands Mercedes-Benz and Setra
supply a full range of city and intercity buses, coaches and chas-
sis. Unit sales in this region fell by 7% to 7,200 vehicles. Whereas
the business with city buses developed steadily and profited in
particular from the continuing market success of the Mercedes-
Benz Citaro, sales of coaches declined because of the difficult
economic environment. Nonetheless, the division maintained its
leading market position in Western Europe with a market share
of about 30%.
With its Orion brand, Daimler Buses is the world’s leading manu-
facturer of hybrid buses. Due above all to the great success of
our Orion buses, Daimler Buses’ sales in North America continued
to develop positively. As a result, contrary to the general market
trend, we increased unit sales by 24% to 1,200 buses. Orion hybrid
buses accounted for 81% of Daimler’s overall unit sales in North
America in 2009.
Daimler Buses produces and distributes chassis and complete
buses of the Mercedes-Benz brand in Mexico, where the impact
of the global economic downturn on the bus business was the
strongest. As a result, unit sales decreased by 55% compared with
the prior year. With a market share of 51.8%, we succeeded in
maintaining our market leadership.
The market downturn in Latin America led to a 16% fall in unit
sales of Mercedes-Benz chassis in the region. At 16,300 units,
the number of chassis sold was significantly below the very high
figure of 19,500 units recorded in the prior year. Despite the
decrease, Daimler Buses was still able to improve its market share
in Latin America to 44.7%.
Daimler Buses. Unit sales below high prior-year level in a difficult
market environment. Stable development of city bus business
in Western Europe. Focus on alternative drive technologies. EBIT
significantly positive at €183 million.
183
4,238
4.3%
78
212
5
32,666
32,482
17,188
% change
-55
-12
.
-33
+19
+400
-22
-20
-5
09/08
406
4,808
8.4%
117
178
1
42,106
40,591
18,110
Amounts in millions of €
20082009
EBIT
Revenue
Return on sales
Investment in property,
plant and equipment
Research and development
expenditure
thereof capitalized
Production
Unit sales
Employees (December 31)
32,482
7,219
2,831
3,899
16,286
5,078
% change
-20
-7
-9
-44
-16
-20
40,591
7,766
3,099
6,997
19,467
6,361
Total
Western Europe
thereof Germany
NAFTA
Latin America
(excluding Mexico)
Other markets
Unit sales
2009 2008 09/08