Mercedes 2013 Annual Report Download - page 34

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Our range of locally emission-free vehicles with battery-electric
or fuel-cell drive is unique in the automotive industry. Our
product range here includes everything from cars to vans, light
trucks and buses. This means that we can currently cover
nearly every mobility requirement. Moreover, the smart fortwo
electric drive1 made us the leader for new registrations
of electric vehicles in Germany in 2013. Our range of electric
vehicles will be further expanded in 2014 to include the
new B-Class Electric Drive2. Together with Ford and our strategic
cooperation partner, Nissan, we continue to move ahead
with the commercialization of fuel-cell vehicles. To ensure the
creation of the required infrastructure, we are cooperating
with leading industrial companies on the expansion of the hydro-
gen filling station network in Germany.
We were the first truck manufacturer to have made its entire
european product range Euro VI-compliant before the new
emission standard went into effect on January 1, 2014. Despite
the complicated exhaust-gas treatment system required for
this compliance, we were still able to reduce fuel consumption
across all model series. The Actros is the most economical
truck in its market segment in Europe, and the Freightliner
Cascadia Evolution is the most fuel-efficient truck in North
America. With our buses as well, we have achieved fuel savings
of as much as 8% while making the transition to Euro VI.
We are the leader in hybrid technologies, and we sell more
commercial vehicles with hybrid drive than any other
company in the world.
In Europe, we intend to reduce the fuel consumption of our
fleet of trucks by an average of 20% between 2005 and 2020.
Compared with 2005, we already achieved a 10% reduction
in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions when we launched the
new Actros series in 2011, and we are working hard on
achieving the next 10%.
Our goal is to become “greener” not only in terms of our
products; we have also expanded our emission-reduction
activities to other relevant segments of the value chain.
We will also further strengthen our position as a pioneer in the
development of active and passive safety systems for cars
and commercial vehicles. The safety and assistance systems
in the new S-Class underscore our claim to be the builders
of the world’s safest car. The S 500 INTELLIGENT DRIVE research
car marks a milestone in the transition from a self-moving
(automobile) to an independent (autonomous) vehicle. We want
to make autonomous driving a reality in a series-production
vehicle by the end of this decade. Safety is also a top priority
with our commercial vehicles. We are the only manufacturer
on the market to offer a system like our Active Brake Assist 3,
which initiates an emergency braking maneuver to bring
the vehicle to a full stop if it encounters a stationary obstacle
ahead. As a result, we are now meeting a requirement that
will not take effect for all new vehicles until 2015.
Driving the development of new mobility concepts and
services. More than half of the world’s population now lives
in cities, and this proportion is rising. Digital technologies
are changing our products, our brand and corporate communi-
cation activities and our work environment. As part of this
development, customers are increasingly demanding individual,
needs-oriented and convenient mobility solutions.
This is creating new business opportunities for Daimler, and we
intend to systematically exploit this potential with new and
innovative products and services. They include various mobility
concepts for private, business and public transport applica-
tions – for example, car2go, CharterWay, Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)
and the “moovel” mobility platform. To further expand this
business with innovative mobility services, we have consolidated
our mobility services for individual customers in a new com-
pany. In the coming years, we will continue to expand car2go,
our first and most successful mobility service. By the end
of 2013, almost 600,000 customers had registered for car2go
in 25 cities in Europe and North America. The moovel inte-
grated mobility platform allows us to offer our customers the
possibility to optimally combine various private and public
mobility services. A “moovel” payment system is also planned
for the future.
1 smart fortwo electric drive: electricity consumption in kWh/100km 15.1;
CO2 emissions in g/km 0.0.
2 B-Class Electric Drive: market launch at first in the USA in Q2 2014.