Mercedes 2010 Annual Report Download - page 75

Management Report | Business and General Conditions | 71
Following the sharp decline in the prior year, the Daimler Trucks
division increased its unit sales by 37% in 2010. In total, we
shipped 355,300 heavy-, medium- and light-duty trucks as well
as buses of the Thomas Built Buses and Fuso brands last year,
meaning we continue to be the biggest globally active manufac-
turer of trucks above 6 tons gross vehicle weight. All of our
main markets contributed to this significant growth in unit sales
– Europe and the United States as well as Latin America and
Japan. The Trucks Europe/Latin America unit profited from the
global economic recovery and increased its unit sales by 41%
to 135,200 vehicles. Growth in unit sales was particularly strong
in Brazil (+45%), Eastern Europe (+139%) and Turkey (+122%).
In Western Europe, we expanded our unit sales by 23% to 50,200
vehicles, defending our leading position in the segment of
medium- and heavy-duty trucks with a market share of 24.3%.
With sales of 79,400 units, Trucks NAFTA sold 25% more vehicles
than in 2009. This was primarily due to the successful new engines
as well as our increased involvement in the areas of construction
applications and disposal services, especially in the Class 8 segment.
We increased our market share in the medium- and heavy-duty
segment (Classes 6-8) in the NAFTA region to 31.6% (2009: 29.6%)
and thus gained market leadership. Sales of 140,700 units by
Trucks Asia in 2010 were significantly higher than in the prior year
(+41%). Growth in unit sales was particularly strong in Indonesia
(+82%), but a small increase was recorded also in the Japanese
domestic market (+7%). Fuso is already the market leader in some
Asian emerging markets. We are in first place in the segment
of light-duty trucks in Taiwan and Indonesia (see pages 126 ff).
Business development
Unit sales. Daimler sold a total of 1.9 million vehicles in 2010.
The level of the prior year, which had been very low due to the
global economic and financial crisis, was thus surpassed by 22%.
The market revival was significantly more dynamic than expected
at the beginning of the year, especially for cars.
The Mercedes-Benz Cars division increased its unit sales by 17%
to 1,276,800 vehicles. The Mercedes-Benz brand recorded growth
of 21% to 1,178,300 units. We therefore further strengthened our
position in the market for premium automobiles. Our S-, E- and
C-Class sedans and the E-Class station wagon are world leaders
in their respective market segments. The new E-Class range, which
was completed in March 2010 with the addition of the new
convertible, was particularly successful. Total shipments of E-Class
cars increased from 212,100 to 330,800 units in 2010. Due to
the market success of the S-Class, we were able to increase
unit sales by Mercedes-Benz Cars also in the luxury segment
(S-, CL-, SL-Class, SLR, SLS and Maybach) by 41% to 80,400 auto-
mobiles. Once again, the S-Class was the world’s best-selling
luxury sedan. In the C-Class segment (C- and SLK-Class), sales
increased by 6% to 341,900 units, and in the SUV segment
(M-, R-, GL-, GLK- and G-Class), Mercedes-Benz actually increased
its unit sales by 21% to 202,800 vehicles. Towards the end of
their lifecycles, the A- and B-Class models still achieved slight
growth to sales of 222,400 units (2009: 215,500).
Mercedes-Benz increased its unit sales in all regions. In the
United States, sales rose by 15% to 216,400 units. In Germany,
we sold 265,000 vehicles (2009: 265,500) and defended our
leading market position in the premium segment; 290,500 vehi-
cles were shipped in the other countries of Western Europe
(2009: 267,200). Business in the emerging markets developed very
positively. In China, Mercedes-Benz continues to be the fastest-
growing premium brand: Sales more than doubled in that market
in 2010 to 156,400 units (+140%), and China was the most
important market for our S-Class for the second consecutive year.
All the other BRIC markets also recorded double-digit growth:
Brazil (+40%), Russia (+68%) and India (+79%). Sales of the smart
fortwo decreased in 2010 to 94,300 units (2009: 113,900).
The new generation of the innovative two-seater has been available
from dealerships since October 2010 (see pages 122 ff).
Unit sales structure of Mercedes-Benz Cars
A-/B-Class 18%
C-/SLK-Class 27%
E-/CLS-Class 26%
S-/CL-/SL-Class/SLR/SLS/Maybach 6%
M-/R-/GL-/GLK-/G-Class 16%
smart 7%
Unit sales structure of Daimler Trucks
Trucks Europe/Latin America 38%
Trucks NAFTA 22%
Trucks Asia 40%