Mercedes 2012 Annual Report Download - page 83

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Global demand for medium and heavy-duty trucks decreased
significantly in the year under review. This development was
primarily due, however, to significant market contraction in China
(about -25%) and India (about -15%). But apart from those
two markets, which together make up nearly half of the world’s
total volume, worldwide registrations increased only moder-
ately and varied significantly from one region to another.
Despite the significant slowdown during the year, the North
American market developed positively with growth of almost
13%. The Japanese market posted a strong increase of 30%,
profiting especially in the first half of the year from the recon-
struction activities after the natural disaster, from pent-up
demand for trucks, and also from state incentives for buyers. The
latter ended in the third quarter, and the stimulating effect
of reconstruction also subsided, so market growth weakened
considerably in the second half of the year. The European
truck market, which was suffering amongst other things from
the ongoing sovereign-debt crisis in the euro zone and the
resulting economic weakness, lost almost 10% of its volume.
The German market was unable to escape this development
and contracted by a similar magnitude.
The Brazilian market posted a drastic drop in demand of
approximately 20%. This was the result of a significant economic
slowdown as well as purchases brought forward to 2011 and
considerable uncertainty in connection with the introduction of
stricter emission limits. There was a revival of demand towards
the end of the year, however. The Russian market, which had lost
about two thirds of its volume due to the global financial crisis,
continued its dynamic recovery with significantly double-digit
growth once again, thus returning to the pre-crisis level of
2008.
The Western European market for medium-sized and large
vans, which continues to be very important to Daimler, con-
tracted by 8% as a result of the sovereign-debt crisis and the
related consumer uncertainty. All the major Western European
markets were affected, but demand dropped particularly
sharply in the markets of Southern Europe. The market for large
vans was generally favorable in the United States, however,
while the Latin American markets were in aggregate weaker than
in the prior year due to the slowdown of economic growth in
Brazil. In China, the market of premium vans, which is relevant
for us, also contracted last year.
European bus markets continued to contract as a result of the
sovereign-debt crisis, with a particular impact on the route
buses segment. In Turkey, the bus market profited from a clear
revival of demand for city buses. In Latin America, however,
the market volume decreased significantly. This was primarily
due to the introduction of Euro V emission regulations in
Brazil and the resulting unwillingness to buy.
Automotive markets. Despite relatively unfavorable economic
conditions, the worldwide demand for automobiles grew
by almost 7% in 2012, reaching a new record level.  3.05
The fact that this growth was actually higher than in 2011
is primarily due to special effects in the Japanese and the Thai
markets, which slumped significantly following the natural
disasters in 2011. In 2012, pent-up demand in combination with
state incentives for car buyers led to strong market growth
of 30% in Japan and actually more than 80% in Thailand. The
US market also made a substantial contribution to the global
growth in demand. The recovery of demand in the United States
continued during 2012, resulting in market growth of a good
13% over the year as a whole. With a total of 14.4 million vehicles,
new registrations were at their highest level since 2007, the
last year before the beginning of the global financial crisis.
Another important driver of demand was again the Chinese
car market, which expanded by about 8% despite the economic
slowdown and was thus once more the world’s biggest car
market, almost equal to the United States.
On the other hand, demand for cars in Western Europe was still
affected by the sovereign-debt crisis and the related economic
weakness. With contraction of 8% and sales of well below 12 mil-
lion vehicles, the market was at its lowest level since 1993,
when Western Europe was in a pronounced recession. Compared
with the volumes achieved before the financial crisis, appro-
ximately three million fewer cars were sold in Western Europe
last year, which is roughly equivalent to the number of new
cars registered in Germany in 2012.
In the large emerging markets, however, the growth trend
continued also outside China. In India, car sales increased by
approximately 10%, once again expanding at a considerably
higher rate than in the prior year. With growth of more than
10%, the Russian market exceeded the level of 2008, after
demand had meanwhile slumped by about a half due to the
worldwide financial crisis.
Unit sales growth rates 2012/2011 in %
Global automotive markets
Passenger cars
Commercial vehicles
1 Cars segment includes light-trucks
2 Medium- and heavy-duty trucks
Source: German Association of the
Automotive Industry (VDA),
various institutions
TotalWestern
Europe NAFTA1,2South
America1,2
Eastern
Europe
Asia
3.05
15
10
5
0
-15
-20
-10
-5