The FINANCIAL — Stuttgart / Sao Paolo – Daimler Buses received large orders for urban buses of the brand with the star in the metropolises of Latin America, such as in Brazil’s third-largest city, Salvador da Bahia, which ordered 180 bus chassis units from the Daimler subsidiary Mercedes-Benz do Brasil as part of the renewal of its urban fleet. Since September 2014, a total of over 430 Mercedes-Benz bus chassis units have been sold to local operators in Salvador. Daimler Buses is market leader in the Brazilian bus market. In a continuously challenging market environment, Daimler Buses has significantly increased its share of the Brazilian market in the first half-year of 2015 to 52.9 percent (previous year: 45.6 percent).
Hartmut Schick, Head of Daimler Buses: “The orders show that our buses are popular even in the current difficult market environment of Latin America. With their quality, safety and robustness, our Mercedes-Benz bus chassis precisely meet the requirements of our customers in Latin America’s urban passenger transport sector.”
Further important large orders for Daimler Buses in Ecuador and Peru
Daimler Buses received another large order from the Ecuadorian capital, Quito. There were 40 new Mercedes-Benz articulated bus chassis units delivered. The Mercedes-Benz articulated buses are highly versatile and durable, which makes them especially suitable for the steep grades encountered on the streets of Quito. The new vehicles will be used on two out of a total of five Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) routes. Extending over 20 kilometers each, the two bus routes, Ecovía-Sur Oriental and Trolebús, transport up to 270,000 passengers a day. Under the efficient BRT system, urban buses run in dedicated bus lanes to provide fast passenger transport in cities. The BRT transport system in Ecuador’s capital, Quito, has been in operation for 20 years.
Daimler has posted another large order in Peru, one of the most important export markets for bus chassis units from Mercedes-Benz do Brasil. The Peruvian passenger and freight transport company Movil Tours has ordered 30 new touring coaches for overland transport. In recent years, Daimler has sold an average of around 700 units per year in Peru, where it leads the local bus market with a share of over 25 percent.
Production network for commercial vehicles in Latin America
In June of this year, Daimler opened a new assembly plant in Funza, Colombia, which supplies Mercedes-Benz bus chassis units to the Colombian market as well as to other export markets in Latin Americain the future. The production network in Latin America is controlled by the Daimler subsidiary Mercedes-Benz do Brasil. In addition to thethree production sites in Brazil, the integrated production network also includes the Argentinian plant in Buenos Aires and the Colombian plantin Funza near Bogotá. With a total of five production sites, Daimler is thus the largest manufacturer of commercial vehicles in Latin America. Daimler Buses is in this way preparing to meet the growing demand for efficient BRT mobility solutions in the region’s main cities.
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