OREANDA-NEWS. Daimler Trucks substantially increased its sales and revenues in 2012 while also generating good earnings. One of the factors that will help strengthen Daimler Trucks this year is the Daimler Trucks #1 initiative, which is expected to generate positive effects amounting to 1.6 billion euro until the end of 2014. Due to the expected course of market development, this growth will probably occur mainly in the second half of the year.

In 2012 the truck markets were affected by positive as well as negative developments. After many truck markets had posted strong sales increases in the first half of the year, all core markets saw demand increase more slowly or even decline in the third and fourth quarters. In Europe, the sovereign debt crisis and the associated economic downturn led to a marked decline in purchases. Economic constraints also limited demand in the NAFTA region to the procurement of essential replacement vehicles. Although reconstruction activities caused an upswing in Japan following the earthquake, this development slowed considerably in the course of the year. In Brazil, meanwhile, weak economic growth and the introduction of a tougher emissions standard led to a significant drop in unit sales since the beginning of 2012.

In spite of these difficulties, Daimler Trucks succeeded in further increasing revenues and unit sales, with growth occurring in particular in Asia and the NAFTA region. Revenues rose by 9% worldwide, to 31.4 billion euro (2011: 28.8 billion euro). The division sold 462,000 vehicles, or 9% more than in 2011. Sales in the NAFTA region rose by 18% to around 135,000 units (114,000), and in Asia by 21% to 164,000 vehicles (135,000). In Western Europe, Daimler Trucks’ sales declined by 6% to 58,000 units (61,400). The result in Latin America was particularly impacted by the steep contraction of the Brazilian truck market. As a consequence, sales in the region as a whole dropped by around 25% to 46,200 vehicles (61,900).