OREANDA-NEWS. The truck product range of Daimler in Brazil has again convinced customers from government and the private sector. The Daimler subsidiary Mercedes-Benz do Brazil will start immediate deliveries of a total of 607 Mercedes-Benz trucks to two major customers. Of this total, 357 medium-duty Mercedes-Benz Atron are going to the state of Minas Gerais in southeastern Brazil and 250 Mercedes-Benz trucks of the Atron and Axor type to the leasing company Ouro Verde from the southern state of Parana. Large orders like these provide additional momentum to the positive trend in sales of Mercedes-Benz trucks in Brazil. Until the third quarter of this year, Daimler Trucks increased its truck sales to 29,975 units in Brazil. This represents a sales increase of 46 percent over the previous year.

"These two major orders are the result of the strong commitment of our team in Brazil and the continuous investments in our products and production locations", said Philipp Schiemer, President of Mercedes-Benz do Brasil and CEO of Daimler Trucks Latin America. In October, during the international transport exhibition "Fenatran", the company annouced that it will invest one billion Brazilian real from 2014 to 2015. The financing will be used mainly for research and development in new products and innovative technologies, as well as for the process optimization and modernization of the two production plants in Sao Bernardo do Campo (state of Sao Paulo) and Juiz de Fora (state of Minas Gerais).

"When they buy, our customers look for low total cost of ownership and therefore high profitability for their fleets", said Schiemer. "Our Mercedes-Benz products are characterized by low fuel consumption, high dependability and user-friendly service intervals. This makes our trucks very attractive for both government operations and private companies."

The 357 new Mercedes-Benz Atron dumper trucks earmarked for the Minas Gerais state will be used for maintenance and expansion of the road infrastructure within the framework of the municipal development aid program "ProMunicipio".

The present government order from Minas Gerais is one of a series of orders by major government customers this year. The Brazilian Ministry of Agrarian Development ("Ministerio do Desenvolvimento Agrario") has ordered a total of 2,884 Atron dumper trucks this year in connection with a Brazilian government initiative for support of family farming businesses. The initiative is part of the PAC-2 economic program ("Programa de Aceleracao do Crescimento"), which is aimed at encouraging economic growth in the country through investment projects.

Mercedes-Benz trucks are also in demand in Brazil’s private sector. With the 250 new Mercedes-Benz Atron and Axor trucks, the Ouro Verde leasing company is expanding its palette of fleet vehicles for use by companies from different industries. In the beginning of the year, Ouro Verde had already purchased 80 Mercedes-Benz trucks.