As part of its Capital Market & Technology Day, Daimler Trucks today confirmed its positive outlook for unit sales and earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) and remains optimistic about its outlook for the current business year. In the Trucks division, the world’s most successful manufacturer of commercial vehicles anticipates a significant increase in unit sales and EBIT compared with the previous year.
In line with this outlook, the company has already sold a total of about 21 percent more trucks in the first quarter of 2018 than it did in the equivalent period of the previous year. In the NAFTA region, unit sales in Q1 rose by a full 24 percent. Daimler Trucks was also able to increase its sales in key markets in Q1 of 2018 (EU30: +11 percent; Brazil: +66 percent and Turkey: +48 percent). This positive trend in Daimler Trucks business is expected to continue as the company is currently registering record numbers of incoming orders. In the first quarter of 2018, orders climbed by 49 percent compared with the previous year. In the traditionally profitable NAFTA region, incoming orders were up by as much as 93 percent compared to the previous year. The strong unit sales figures and number of incoming orders mean that the company can look to the future with continued optimisim. Furthermore, by 2019, efficiency measures introduced in 2017 to reduce fixed costs will take full effect and contribute a total € 1.4 billion improvement in Daimler Truck’s financial results.
Martin Daum, member of the Daimler Board of Management for Trucks & Buses:
“In the world of trucks and buses, we’re clearly number one. To ensure it stays that way, we consistently build on our strategic strengths: our global presence, worldwide platforms and our leading role in innovation. And we always keep our customers in focus. Our products have to make our customers successful for us to remain successful.”
Daimler Trucks is the world’s undisputed leader in the commercial vehicle market and strives to achieve an average return on sales of 8 percent (“over the cycle”), including the costs of investment in future technologies. Daimler Trucks also continues to see itself as the pacesetter in the strong, technology-driven change currently taking place in its sector. It has invested more than € 2.5 billion over the course of 2018 and 2019 in research and development, of which more than € 500 million is dedicated to electrification, connectivity and the automation of its products and services.
E-Mobility Group (EMG) turns know-how into electric drive systems
Today the company is leading the way in the electrification of commercial vehicles. The Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation (MFTBC) has already delivered the first models of its fully-electric FUSO eCanter to selected customers in the USA, Europe and Japan. Its sister brand, Mercedes-Benz, will put its medium-duty eActros on the road for customers this year as well. Daimler Trucks is also working to ensure that e-mobility is economical – both for the customer and manufacturer.
In order for its electric trucks and buses to become global market leaders, the company has bundled all of its electric activities under a new organisation for
e-mobility: the E-Mobility Group (EMG). It will soon be defining the strategy for everything from electrical components to completely electric vehicles for all brands and all business divisions, while also working to create a single global electric architecture. EMG is globally structured, with employees working cross functional in various locations throughout the company’s worldwide development network, e.g. in Portland (U.S.), Stuttgart (Germany) and Kawasaki (Japan). Effective July 1, 2018 Gesa Reimelt will establish and lead this new entity. The position reports directly to the Executive Vice President for Global Powertrain and Manufacturing Engineering Daimler Trucks, Frank Reintjes.
Martin Daum, member of the Daimler Board of Management for Trucks and Buses, said: “As the undisputed global market leader, we aim to take the leading role in the field of electric-powered trucks and buses. We started working on electric trucks at an early stage and aspire to set the benchmark in every relevant segment of this industry. By establishing our new global E-Mobility Group we can maximise the effectiveness of our investments in this strategic key technology. This will enable us to provide our customers with the best solutions in battery systems, charging systems or energy management.”
Customer-oriented leader in innovation
It is the aim of Daimler Trucks to provide its customers the world over with the best vehicles that meet their specific requirements. Technological innovations serve to make the vehicles more efficient and safer for customers, as well as to connect the vehicles more intensely with one another and with the ecosystem of the customer. With its Mercedes-Benz, Freightliner and FUSO truck brands, Daimler Trucks has been delivering pioneering work in the field of automated and networked driving for years.
On an international scale, Daimler Trucks already has more than one-half million trucks connected to the Internet of Things via its FleetBoard and Detroit Connect connectivity platforms. It was also the first truck manufacturer to demonstrate digitally connected trucks – so-called platooning – on public roads in Europe, the U.S. and Japan. In the fall of 2017, Daimler Trucks presented a further possible application for future implementation of automated commercial vehicles: At an airfield in Bad Sobernheim, Germany, an automated and remote-controlled fleet of four Mercedes-Benz Arocs tractor units cleared the runway.
Uniquely strong position thanks to long-term strategy
The most successful commercial vehicle manufacturer in the world is pursuing its goals from a uniquely strong position: In 2017, Daimler Trucks was clearly ahead of its competition with a total of around 470,000 units sold. With its Mercedes-Benz, FUSO, Freightliner, Western Star and BharatBenz truck brands, as well as its Mercedes-Benz Buses, Setra and Thomas Built Buses bus brands, Daimler Trucks & Buses has an internationally strong product portfolio. It is the market leader in Germany, Europe and the NAFTA region. In Brazil, India and Japan the company also holds a leading position. Ten years ago, Daimler had already established a global presence and international platform strategy, while maintaining its historical leading role in innovation. In terms of the most important aspects in the sector, including safety, reliability and efficiency, the company had built a solid foundation for achieving sustainable growth in its commercial vehicles business. It is from this leading position that Daimler Trucks & Buses will set the tempo for newer fields of innovation, such as e-mobility, connectivity and automation. For three years now, six regional centers have been coordinating the sales and after-sales businesses around the world, thus ensuring that the business can continue to expand its operations into future growth markets in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
