Mercedes 2013 Annual Report Download - page 154

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and stricter emissions standards. Demand was boosted in 2013
by the financing incentives of the government’s FINAME pro-
gram and by catch-up effects following the market’s previous
slump. Under these conditions, our unit sales rose by 34%
to 38,800 trucks. After suffering major losses at the beginning
of the year, Mercedes-Benz launched specific product and
process-related measures that helped it significantly stabilize
its market share in the hotly contested medium- and heavy-
duty segments at 24.7% for the year as a whole (2012: 25.5%).
In Western Europe, demand did not rise significantly until the
second half of the year. On the one hand, customers ordered
Euro V-compliant vehicles before the stricter emissions standards
went into effect in early 2014. On the other hand, buyers in
countries such as the Netherlands, Switzerland and Italy took
advantage of subsidies for the purchase of Euro VI-compliant
vehicles. During the reporting year, Daimler Trucks’ sales in the
region increased by 14% to 65,900 units. Our Mercedes-Benz
brand extended its lead further, achieving a market share of 24.1%
(2012: 22.9%). Almost half of the new Actros model series
were already sold as Euro VI-version trucks. Despite facing a
difficult market environment in Turkey, we sold 19,500 vehicles
there in 2013, increasing our unit sales by 7%; our market
share remained at the very high level of 49.5% (2012: 45.4%).
Economic difficulties caused demand for trucks to decline
in Russia, leading to a drop in unit sales of 22% to 5,600 vehicles.
Demand picked up in 2013 in Latin America’s main market,
Brazil. In the previous year, demand for trucks had been greatly
impacted by a combination of negative economic factors
In addition to BharatBenz trucks, FUSO trucks have also been produced in Chennai for the export markets of Asia and Africa since May 2013.