With a market share of 15% in the first half of 2009, Daimler Buses has once again confirmed its leading position in the international bus business. In the first six months of 2009 Daimler Buses sold 15,112 buses (2008: 20,243) and chassis from the Mercedes-Benz, Setra and Orion brands. The revenue for this period was a solid 2 billion euros (2008: 2.24 billion euros) and the EBIT was 114 million euros (2008: 245 million euros).

"Despite the changes in the overall economic conditions we have maintained our worldwide market leadership and were even able to gain market shares in many regions. This proves that Daimler’s business system is very stable. Our profitability shows a return on sales of 6%. That means we can take a confident view of the coming months," said Hartmut Schick, Head of Daimler Buses, at a press conference in the run-up to the Busworld trade fair in Kortrijk, Belgium.

The international bus market in the first half of 2009 was characterised by a worldwide slump in sales. Daimler Buses was also affected by this trend, although the impact on its business was significantly less than in the overall market. Daimler was able to defy the trend and gain market shares in the key German domestic market and in Spain, Italy and France.
The market share in Brazil remained intact and in Mexico it even increased by ten percentage points. There Daimler Buses is the undisputed leader with 60% of the market. Within the North American market, which overall is in decline, Daimler Buses generated a respectable increase in sales of 17%.

Daimler Buses was able to secure higher market shares in part through major orders. The two latest major orders came from the Netherlands: 350 Mercedes-Benz Citaro city buses are being delivered to the Qbuzz transit bus operator, while the Arnhem-Nijmegen region ordered 75 natural gas powered Citaro buses. In Berlin the city’s bus operator expanded its bus fleet with 144 Mercedes-Benz Citaro urban buses.

With the official delivery of the 25,000th Citaro bus to a customer, this bus model has become the most successful urban bus of all time. The state-run transport operator of Tashkent, Uzbekistan ordered 200 Mercedes-Benz Conecto buses for its city service. Other major orders which Daimler Buses has received came from South Africa for 125 Mercedes-Benz shuttle buses for its Gautrain high-speed rail project. Daimler Buses North America recently received orders for more than 300 regular-service buses, touring coaches and shuttle buses. And in Chile a major order was received this year for 700 chassis.

For 2009 as a whole Daimler Buses projects that the worldwide demand for buses larger than 8 tonnes will decrease from 280,000 to 248,000 units, with significant core markets stabilising at the level of the first half of the year. With this background in mind, Hartmut Schick commented: "We are certain that we will still be the uncontested market leader at the end of year. And we will expand the market share gains we made during the first half of the year. Overall we will continue to be profitable and make full utilisation of our plants in Europe until the end of the year."

Daimler Buses’ strategic orientation is preparing the way for sustainable success. The strategy comprises four core areas: “Operational excellence/efficiency”, “Growth in traditional markets", "Growth in new markets" and "Leadership in technology". As Hartmut Schick described: "We are constantly working on improving our core processes, cost structures and our sales strategy. For example, this means creating even more flexibility in our European integrated production network and being able to meet customers’ requirements in an even more individualised and precise manner.” In addition the development of new products must be further promoted. This includes adapting the new Euro 6 engine generation and focusing on alternative drive technologies, for example diesel-electric hybrids and the fuel cell hybrid. Cooperation with local partners is also being expanded, for example in India, Russia and China.

Above right: Hartmut Schick, head of Daimler Buses