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DaimlerChrysler Product Offensive Underscores Its Future Competitiveness As The World’s Largest Producer Of Commercial Vehicles


October 2005
 Filed under: DAIMLERCHRYSLER CORPORATE Car News | DAIMLERCHRYSLER CORPORATE Headlines
Stuttgart/Amsterdam, Oct 13, 2005 -- DaimlerChrysler is expecting continued positive developments for its commercial vehicle business in 2005. The company announced its forecast at the RAI European Road Transport Show in Amsterdam. In the first six months of 2005, the company’s Commercial Vehicles division increased its sales to 401,000 units, topping its figure for the comparable period of 2004 by nearly 30 percent. It posted an operating profit of €1.2 billion for the same period, exceeding last year’s figure by 68 percent. Andreas Renschler, Board of Management member responsible for Commercial Vehicles, said: “This excellent result is due primarily to our continuous efforts to increase our cost efficiency and optimize processes in every business area. We are very satisfied with the figures for the first half of 2005.”
* Five vehicles make their debuts at the RAI commercial vehicle show in Amsterdam

* Andreas Renschler, Board of Management member for Commercial Vehicles: Despite the cyclical markets, we aim to maintain our profitability for the long term

At the European Road Transport Show in Amsterdam, the Commercial Vehicles division is presenting vans and trucks designed for safe, eco-nomical and environmentally friendly transport of goods. The range of vehicles presented by Mercedes-Benz and Mitsubishi Fuso is comple-mented by a broad spectrum of services on offer, ranging from the initial purchase to the remarketing of vehicles. This DaimlerChrysler Commercial Vehicles product offensive is part of the “Global Excellence” optimization program, which is aimed at making the division more independent of market fluctuations in the future.

“Despite the cyclical markets, our declared aim is to maintain our profitability for the long term, even in a difficult economic climate,” said Renschler, adding that the division intends to counter the fluctuations of the international commercial vehicle markets at an early stage with its “Global Excellence” optimization program. The program comprises four initiatives conceived to permanently put the Commercial Vehicles division on a solid foundation.

The first initiative, “Optimization of the Business Model,” is designed to increase the division’s efficiency. Renschler pointed out that the two keys to success are the active control of market cycles and fine-tuning of management resources worldwide. As an example, he offered the “Technical Talent Program,” which trains talented young engineers all over the world and brings them together in an international network. In addition to creating a uniform level of qualification worldwide, the program also promotes a cross-divisional approach to solving problems.

The objective of the second initiative, “Operational Excellence,” is the ongoing improvement of operational business processes. There is particularly rich potential in the area of vehicle development, where nearly 80 percent of all product costs are determined at an early stage of the product lifecycle. Renschler commented: “We regard the size and complexity of our division as an opportunity, and we’ve set ourselves the goal of intelligently networking our products with one another.” This is already happening in the area of vehicle development, he added, through the functional unit “Truck Product Creation,” which was established almost two years ago. This functional unit combines all the division’s worldwide processes involved in product planning, product development, production strategy and planning, and procurement. In cooperation with the development units, and at an early stage of the product creation process, Truck Product Creation identifies and takes advantage of synergies with the three main production locations in Stuttgart, Portland and Tokyo.

The third initiative of the Global Excellence program is focused on further penetrating the markets with DaimlerChrysler products. On the one hand, it is intended to appeal to new customer groups in its existing markets, a goal that has been achieved by the Mitsubishi Fuso Canter light truck, for example. And it also has the objective of tapping the potential of rapidly growing new markets, mostly in Asia.

The fourth pillar of Global Excellence is the “Future Product Genera-tions” initiative, and the Commercial Vehicles division demonstrated its commitment to this program by launching five new vehicles at the RAI truck show: the Mercedes-Benz Vito 4x4 van with all-wheel drive, “light-weight” construction vehicles from the Axor family, BlueTec diesel technology for the Atego and Axor truck series, and — the highlight of DaimlerChrysler’s range of heavy-duty long-distance vehicles — the Actros Cruiser 1860 LS concept truck with the new Mercedes Powershift transmission.

Mitsubishi Fuso presented the new generation of the Canter lightweight truck. The new Canter trucks, which are manufactured in Portugal, were launched on the European markets in the spring of 2005. A version of the Canter with a hybrid drive system for the Japanese market was also on display. Plans call for it to go into series production in Japan in 2006.

The Mercedes-Benz Actros truck, which is already available with BlueTec diesel technology, is continuing its success story: More than 5,000 Mercedes-Benz trucks equipped with this innovative emissions technology will be delivered to customers this year. More than 90 percent of these customers have chosen vehicles that already fulfill the Euro 5 emissions standard.

Only a few weeks ago, at the Technology Days in Papenburg, the Commercial Vehicles division demonstrated the approach it is planning to take in the future, presenting 50 innovations in the areas of safety technology, alternative drives and new emissions systems. “We aren’t developing sophisticated concepts as ends in themselves,” said Renschler. “Most of the innovations we recently presented in Papenburg will soon be seen in everyday use out on the road.”

With its Orion brand of urban buses manufactured in the U.S., DaimlerChrysler is the world’s largest producer of hybrid buses. This month, the municipal transport authority of New York City ordered 500 additional Orion VII hybrid buses, with an option for up to 386 additional units. Throughout North America, a total of 300 buses are already on the road, and 200 more have been ordered. That brings to approximately 1,000 the total number of Orion hybrid buses that have been ordered or delivered in the U.S. and Canada.

Source: DaimlerChrysler

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