In the first half of 2007, DaimlerChrysler Buses boosted global sales by three percent to more than 18,600 units. Sales increases were achieved worldwide for both complete buses (5,200 units) and chassis (13,500 units). Thus DaimlerChrysler Buses once again confirms the high sales level of the first half of 2006, and underscores its position as the world market leader. These results were released at a press conference held in the run-up to the “Busworld” motor show in Kortrijk, Belgium.

There were significant differences in how the bus business developed throughout the world in the first six months of the year. Whereas the market in Mexico remained at the same high level as in the first half of 2006, the bus markets in Western Europe and Turkey declined slightly. However, the decrease in Europe was more than offset by the rapid growth of the Brazilian bus market.
In Western Europe, DaimlerChrysler Buses defended its market share of around 24 percent. However, when viewed as a whole, the market for buses over eight tons GVW declined slightly to 13,500 units in Western Europe. The markets were weaker in Germany, Austria and the UK in particular, partly because the introduction of the digital tachograph had led to above-average numbers of new vehicle registrations in the first six months of 2006.

“Despite a difficult competitive environment, we clearly confirmed our market leadership in Western Europe,” said Harald Landmann, head of DaimlerChrysler Buses. “Our goal now is to boost our market share further, for which we are increasing the flexibility of our European production network. For example, we are once again manufacturing the Mercedes-Benz Citaro not only in Mannheim this year, but also in Neu-Ulm.” For a brief period, the Neu-Ulm plant will also produce the Mercedes-Benz Travego for the Western European market. In this way, it will offset the production launch-related capacity constraints of the HoÅŸdere plant in Turkey while meeting the requirements of the Western European market.

For full-year 2007, DaimlerChrysler Buses expects to match the very high sales totals registered in 2006. The company also expects global sales of buses over eight tons GVW to grow from 225,000 in 2006 to more than 240,000 units this year. Growth will be driven by developments in Asia (particularly in India and China) and Latin America (especially Brazil).

DaimlerChrysler Buses will present 18 bus and coach models at Europe’s largest bus show, “Busworld 2007”, in Kortrijk, Belgium. The state-of-the-art vehicles of the Setra and Mercedes-Benz brands are designed for long-distance trips as well as regularly scheduled service, and reflect the high technical standards of today’s buses with regard to comfort, efficiency, safety and environmental compatibility. Making their debuts at the bus show will be the updated Setra TopClass 400 and several new variants of the ComfortClass 400. The Mercedes-Benz stand will meanwhile showcase the brand’s recently revamped bus range, which is now rounded out by the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Travel 65 minibus.

To ensure the environmentally compatible transport of passengers in buses and coaches, DaimlerChrysler is introducing future-oriented developments such as BlueTec 4/5 technology for buses and EEVs (Enhanced Environmentally friendly Vehicles).
This fall, DaimlerChrysler Buses will unveil the first prototype of a Mercedes-Benz Citaro city bus equipped with a serial diesel-electric hybrid drive system. Because of its technologically sophisticated hybrid system, the bus will, in some cases, be able to run solely on battery power and therefore generate no emissions. Pilot operation is scheduled to begin next year, and series production is envisioned for 2009.

DaimlerChrysler Buses is the world’s leading manufacturer of buses and coaches. It has around 17,100 employees, of whom some 7,200 work in Germany.