Mercedes 2010 Annual Report Download - page 131

The Divisions | Daimler Trucks | 127
Continuous investment in the further development of the product
range and the expansion of our plants contributes towards safe-
guarding our long-term competitiveness. Some of the results could
be seen at the 2010 IAA Commercial Vehicles trade fair, where
we presented a number of new products. In response to the tremen-
dous increase in demand for heavy-duty long-haulage trucks in
our core markets, we began assembling the Actros in Aksaray,
Turkey, in late 2010 and will start production of that model in
Juiz de Fora, Brazil, in 2012. Mercedes-Benz do Brasil also invested
in expanding the production capacity of its São Bernardo do
Campo plant by 15% to 75,000 units each year.
The demands placed on commercial vehicles are continually rising,
and individual solutions and conversions are becoming more and
more important in the truck segment. For this reason, Mercedes-
Benz Special Trucks expanded its Mercedes-Benz Custom Tailored
Trucks (CTT) unit in the past two years and established a develop-
ment center for special trucks in Molsheim, France. CTT, which
focuses on special customer requirements related to conversions
and special equipment for Mercedes-Benz trucks, celebrated its
tenth anniversary in 2010.
Sales growth in the NAFTA region. Trucks NAFTA is the leading
truck manufacturer in North America in Classes 6 to 8. Under
the Freightliner brand name, we offer customers heavy-duty trucks
for long-haulage transport and medium-duty trucks mainly for
local distribution applications. Heavy-duty trucks from the Western
Star premium brand serve the markets for special-purpose,
construction and long-haulage trucks. Since 1916, Thomas Built
Buses has been the embodiment of innovative design, safety
and top quality. The yellow school buses manufactured by the
market leader are a common sight across the United States.
With sales of 79,400 units, Trucks NAFTA sold 25% more vehicles
in 2010 than in the prior year. The region is currently experi-
encing a mild recovery. Our positive sales development is being
achieved through our successful new EPA10-compliant engines
and stepped-up activities in the sectors for construction and
disposal services, particularly in the Class 8 segment. This
allowed us to increase our market share in Classes 6 to 8 to
31.6%, making us the market leader in the entire NAFTA region
(2009: 29.6%). Also in the United States, Trucks NAFTA is the
most successful supplier in this segment with a market share of
32.6% (2009: 30.0%). In Class 8, we further increased our
market share in both the NAFTA region with a share of 32.4%
(2009: 30.9%) and the United States with a share of 33.9%
(2009: 31.2%). This is clear evidence of customers’ strong accep-
tance of our products.
Daimler Trucks North America launched a repositioning program
in 2008 that has since been successfully completed. In order to
further consolidate our long-term competitiveness, we will continue
to optimize our processes and improve our efficiency in the
future. The successful implementation of the program was made
possible in large part by an agreement with the United Auto
Workers union (UAW) covering the four sites of Mt. Holly, Cleveland,
Gastonia and Portland. Thanks to positive market developments
in the NAFTA region, we increased production capacity in good
time in 2010 and rehired nearly 1,100 workers. In addition,
approximately 700 employees were newly recruited at our new
plant in Saltillo. The Detroit Diesel engine plant in Redford, Michi-
gan, also benefited from solid orders and the BlueTec engines
newly introduced in the United States. We are currently investing
approximately US$200 million in expanding the Detroit Diesel
facility. Our commitment to developing environmentally friendly
and efficient drive-system technologies was honored by the
US Department of Energy at the beginning of 2010: Daimler Trucks
North America will receive some US$40 million in funding over
the next five years as part of the “21st Century Truck Technology
Partnership.” The funds will be used for commercial-vehicle and
engine development. The high level of acceptance enjoyed by our
engines is confirmed by the success of the Captive Engine strat-
egy at Trucks NAFTA. Today, more than 95% of our trucks in the
heavy-duty segment are powered by engines we build ourselves.
Trucks Europe/Latin America – the focus was on the market launch of the new Mercedes-Benz Atego and the new Mercedes-Benz Axor.