Daimler Trucks North America, citing a U.S. economy that is recovering better than was expected a few months ago, said it expects to use last year’s 24.9% increase in sales as a springboard for 2011.
“Our sales success in 2010 outpaced the development of the market,” said Martin Daum President and CEO of DTNA. “In the U.S. and the rest of NAFTA, we are the market leader in the segment of medium and heavy-duty trucks in Classes 6 to 8, with a market share in NAFTA of 31.6 percent. We thus increased our market share by two percentage points compared to the previous year’s figure. We also recorded a very positive development of sales in the U.S. market alone, and with a market share of 32.6 percent (2009: 30 percent) we are the most successful manufacturer in this segment. The sales figures for 2011 look very promising. The market share for our medium and heavy-duty trucks has been increased by February to 38.5 percent in the USA and 37.1 percent in the NAFTA region.”
Andreas Renschler, the Daimler Board of Management member responsible for Daimler Trucks and Daimler Buses, believes DTNA has started the current fiscal year in a strong competitive position.
“We are expecting significant growth in the U.S. truck market this year, particularly in sales of trucks in Classes 6 to 8. As a result, we will revise our original 2011 growth forecast for the NAFTA region upward. We expect that the truck market in the NAFTA region will grow this year by 30 to 35 percent. Up to now the growth prognosis was 20 to 25 percent. This upturn is resulting in a significant increase in the demand for transport services, and thus also for commercial vehicles — because economic growth means more demand for transport.”
To accommodate the rising demand for commercial vehicles in NAFTA, DTNA will expand its production schedule in 2011 and plans to fill a combined total of about 1,300 new positions at all of the truck locations in the U.S. and Mexico in the first half of the year. DTNA’s incoming orders in North America are currently exceeding expectations.