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)A1MLER4ENZ BOOSTS SALE: . ..
Page 7
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'Full speed ahead for Mercedes-Benz
DESPITE THE ongoing slump in the US heavy truck market, Andreas Renschler, the head of Daimler Trucks worldwide, insists: "Mercedes-Benz is steaming full speed ahead."
Speaking in Stuttgart at the launch of the new Actros tractor this week. Renschler reported that A. Andreas Rensc h ter Daimler-Benz's truck op
eration boosted its return on sales to 7.5% last year (up from 5.8% in 2006). This was in spite of the US heavy truck market, where it competes with Freightliner. Sterling and Western Star brands, falling by a whopping 41%.
Daimler's truck boss is in bullish form, citing the fast-growing markets in Eastern Europe (up 20%) and Latin America (up 28%) as key contributors to the results and sales growth.
Renschler believes that while Europe "is still
the home turf of the three-pointed star, we're looking beyond to Eastern Europe for bigger growth". Daimler's biggest target markets are what Renschler calls the 'BRIC' countries — Brazil, Russia, India and China — where it intends to increase business through its own products or via joint ventures. He also delivered a sidewipe at the takeover of Scania by Volkswagen, which could see closer ties between the Swedish truck-maker and MAN. "We monitor mergers with