Mercedes 2015 Annual Report Download - page 164

C | THE DIVISIONS | MERCEDES-BENZ VANS 171
New records for unit sales, revenue and EBIT
Mercedes-Benz Vans set a new sales record in 2015, with an
increase of 9% to 321,000 units. At €11.5 billion, revenue was
also significantly higher than in the previous year (2014:
€10.0 billion). EBIT rose by 29% to the new record level of
€880 million.
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C.05
Continued growth
Mercedes-Benz Vans’ products remained successful also in
2015. Our Sprinter, Vito and Citan vans are targeted mainly at
commercial customers while the V-Class is designed primarily
for private use.
Unit sales in Western Europe, our most important market, rose
by 10% to 208,500 vans in the year under review. Particularly
significant increases were recorded in Sweden (+27%), Belgium
(+25%) and Switzerland (+17%), and Mercedes-Benz Vans
also posted strong growth in the key volume markets of Western
Europe. For example, we set a new sales record in Germany
with 88,400 units (2014: 79,900). Despite a difficult market en-
vironment in Eastern Europe, Mercedes-Benz Vans was able
to increase its sales in the region to 32,200 units, an increase
of 5% over the prior year.
Mercedes-Benz Vans remained on course for growth also in the
NAFTA region, where sales rose sharply to 40,500 units.
The success story of our Sprinter continues in the United States,
where we launched the Metris in the fourth quarter of 2015
E page 173. Sales of 32,400 units in the United States (+25%)
marked a new record for the division. Sales in Canada increased
by 24% to 5,100 units.
Despite the difficult economic conditions in Latin America, we
were still able to sell 15,800 units in that region, which was
slightly lower than the number sold in the previous year (2014:
16,100). At 7,200 units, sales in China were significantly lower
than in the prior year (2014: 12,800), largely due to the upcom-
ing model changeover in the mid-size van segment. We sold
a total of 194,200 Sprinter vehicles worldwide during the year
under review (+4%), which marks a new record for sales of
large vans. Sales of mid-size vans were also significantly higher
than in the previous year, totaling 105,100 units (2014: 86,000).
Mercedes-Benz Vans
Mercedes-Benz Vans continued on its successful course of success from the previous year in 2015,
setting a new record for unit sales. Earnings also reached an all-time high at the division. Growth
was primarily driven by the Vito and Sprinter vans. Sales of the Sprinter were higher than ever before
in the model’s 20-year production history. The market launch of the very successful mid-size
Vito van in North and South America marked yet another milestone in the implementation of our
“Mercedes-Benz Vans goes global” growth strategy. We consistently moved ahead with our
internationalization strategy also in the private customer segment, and were active in new sales
markets with our V-Class multipurpose vehicle and the camper van version of the Marco Polo.
This contributed to a significant increase in earnings at Mercedes-Benz Vans.
C.05
Mercedes-Benz Vans
2015 2014 15/14
€ amounts in millions % change
EBIT 880 682 +29
Revenue 11,473 9,968 +15
Return on sales (in %) 7.7 6.8 .
Investment in property, plant
and equipment
202
304 -34
Research and
development expenditure
thereof capitalized
384
153
293
68
+31
+125
Production 328,129 299,008 +10
Unit sales 321,017 294,594 +9
Employees (December 31) 22.639 21.598 +5
C.06
Unit sales by Mercedes-Benz Vans
2015 2014 15/14
% change
Total 321,017 294,594 +9
Western Europe 208,459 190,019 +10
thereof Germany 88,380 79,898 +11
Eastern Europe 32,163 30,758 +5
NAFTA 40,519 31,466 +29
Latin America
(excluding Mexico)
15,750
16,063 -2
China 7,178 12,837 -44
Other markets 16,948 13,451 +26