Mercedes 2009 Annual Report Download - page 75

Management Report |Business and General Conditions |71
As a reliable business partner, Daimler Financial Services contin-
ued to provide its dealerships and customers with competitive
financial services also during the financial crisis. On the basis of
secure refinancing, the division strengthened its global market
presence and effectively supported the sale of Daimler vehicles.
Nonetheless, the business development of Daimler Financial Ser-
vices was also impacted by the financial and economic crisis. Its
worldwide contract volume fell by 8% to €58.3 billion at the end
of the year; adjusted for exchange-rate effects, the decrease was
9%. This was caused on the one hand by the lower volume of new
business due to lower vehicle unit sales; on the other hand, also by
the sale of parts of the non-automotive portfolio in North America.
New business of €25.1 billion was 15% below the prior-year level,
and also 15% below after adjusting for exchange-rate effects
(see pages 132 f).
Order situation. The Mercedes-Benz Cars, Daimler Trucks,
Mer
cedes-Benz Vans and Daimler Buses divisions produce vehicles
to order in accordance with customers’ specifications. While doing
so, we endeavor to flexibly adjust the production capacities of
individual models to changing levels of demand. As a result of
the worldwide financial and economic crisis, volumes of orders
rec
eived in the first half of 2009 decreased significantly at all
divi
sions. This situation only stabilized in the second half of the year,
and particularly in the fourth quarter. At Mercedes-Benz Cars,
this
was primarily a reflection of the market success of the new
E-Class. Due to drastic slumps in demand, we had to substan-
tially
reduce our production volumes of trucks and vans. But a
signifi
cant reduction in the production program was also neces-
sary for
cars. As a result of the lower levels of production and the
upturn
in demand as the year progressed, order backlogs at
the end of
2009 were generally slightly higher than at the end of
the prior year.
Mercedes-Benz Vans. Following the record year 2008, van mar-
kets slumped drastically in the year under review. In this environ-
ment, Mercedes-Benz Vans sold 165,600 vehicles, which is 42%
fewer than in the prior year. The falls in unit sales were particular-
ly sharp in the key export markets of Western Europe – the Unit-
ed Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands – with an
average of 50%. In Germany, our most important van market,
unit sales decreased at a significantly lower rate of 21%. Despite
the overall substantial decline, we succeeded in strengthening
our market position in Europe in the segment of mid-size and large
vans, achieving a market share of 17.9% (2008: 16.9%). In con-
nection with reorganizing distribution of the Mercedes-Benz Sprin-
ter in North America, unit sales fell very significantly in the Unit-
ed States (-91%). Since the beginning of 2010, the Sprinter has
been sold in North America under the Freightliner and Mercedes-
Benz brands. Worldwide unit sales of the Sprinter decreased com-
pared with the prior year by 43% to 104,700 vehicles. The Vito
and Viano models posted a 41% fall in sales to 57,900 units (see
pages 128 f).
With unit sales of 32,500 complete buses and bus chassis,
Daimler Buses was the world’s biggest manufacturer of buses
and coaches over 8 tons gross vehicle weight once again in
2009 (2008: 40,600). The 20% decrease in unit sales was primar-
ily due to lower deliveries in Latin
America. In Western Europe,
sales of 7,200 units were just 7%
below the high prior-year level.
Nonetheless, Daimler Buses con
tinued to defend its leading
market position with a market share of approximately 30%. This
is mainly a reflection of the ongoing success of the Mercedes-
Benz Citaro city bus. As a result of the market weakness in Latin
America, sales of bus chassis by Mer cedes-Benz decreased by
16% from the prior year’s extremely high level to 16,300 units. How-
ever, we were able to increase our mar
ket share to 44.7%. With its
Orion brand, Daimler Buses is also the
world’s leading manu-
facturer of hybrid buses. Due to the positive
development in the
city bus segment, we succeeded in increasing
bus sales in the
North American market – contrary to the general
market trend – by
24% to 1,200 units. Due to the situation of the
Mexican market,
however, unit sales in that country decreased by a substantial
55% to 2,700 buses (see pages 130 f).