Daimler Trucks, the world’s leading truck manufacturer, achieved one of the best sales years in its history in 2018: Based on initial data, unit sales of the Mercedes-Benz, FUSO, Freightliner, Western Star, Thomas Built Buses and BharatBenz brands increased to well over 500,000 vehicles in 2018 (2017: 470,700). The exact sales figures will be announced by Daimler AG at its annual press conference on February 6, 2019. In a generally positive market environment, the Daimler Group’s trucks division had already increased its unit sales by eleven percent to approximately 466,900 units by the end of November, significantly more than in the same period of the previous year (January – November 2017: 422,500).
“2018 was one of the most successful years in the history of Daimler Trucks. As previously announced, our worldwide unit sales are significantly higher than in the previous year. With well over 500,000 trucks, we have achieved our highest unit sales of the past ten years. This success shows that we offer our customers around the globe strong products backed by an equally strong team. I would like to thank all my colleagues for their outstanding commitment over the past year. In 2019, we will continue pursuing the goal of making our customers – and ultimately society as well – more successful every day with innovative transport solutions. This also includes the technological transformation of our industry, which we are resolutely pushing forward with automated, electric and connected trucks.” said Martin Daum, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG responsible for Trucks & Buses.
Strongest sales growth was in NAFTA region
Most of Daimler Trucks’ largest sales markets developed positively in the past year, with the highest growth achieved in the NAFTA region. Sales of the Freightliner, Western Star and Thomas Built Buses brands increased by 15 percent to a total of approximately 172,700 units in the first eleven months (prior-year period 150,600). With a recent market share of 38.3 percent in weight classes 6 – 8, Daimler Trucks was by far the undisputed market leader for medium- and heavy-duty trucks in North America once again in 2018. Freightliner’s flagship, the New Cascadia, played a key role in the market success: More than 76,500 of this model have been sold since the start of production in late 2016.
In June 2018, Daimler Trucks presented the heavy-duty Freightliner eCascadia and the medium-duty Western Star eM2, the first all-electric series-produced trucks for the North American market. The first vehicle, a Freightliner eM2, was handed over to the major US customer Penske Truck Leasing Corp. on December 20, 2018 for use in real customer operations. In the coming months, an innovation fleet of 30 all-electric trucks from Freightliner will be put into operation. Together with the Saf-T-Liner C2 electric school bus from Thomas Built Buses and the FUSO eCanter, Daimler Trucks offers the widest range of electric commercial vehicles on the North American market.
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SOURCE: Daimler
