In 2016, the bus division of the Daimler Group once again achieved the best return on sales in the industry of 6.2 percent (adjusted for special items), which is also slightly above its own target.
Despite the continuation of very disparate markets, Daimler Buses increased its earnings by 28 percent to €258 million (2015: €202 million). The division’s earnings were therefore substantially higher than in the previous year. The strong business with complete buses in Western Europe made a significant contribution to this success. With approximately 3,000 buses delivered, the Setra brand actually posted record unit sales in 2016. This shows that the division’s strategy is paying off; Daimler Buses is very well positioned also in a difficult market environment.
Daimler Buses sold a total of 26,200 buses and bus chassis worldwide in 2016 (2015: 28,100). The bus division therefore successfully defended and in some cases extended its undisputed market leadership in its core markets in the segment for buses with a gross vehicle weight of over eight tons. Furthermore, new markets were entered, for example with exports from Brazil and India to Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
Hartmut Schick, Head of Daimler Buses: “We at Daimler Buses are satisfied with our performance in 2016. We have achieved a lot, we are making good use of our strong position and we will invest a further 600 million euros in our bus division by 2018.”
“We will continue our offensive from this position of strength and will continually improve our organization. To these ends, we are systematically further developing our unique product portfolio and extending our technology leadership: with partially automated driving, with electric mobility and with digital connectivity. We want to offer optimal mobility solutions to our customers all over the world,” continued Schick. “In parallel, we are constantly optimizing our worldwide sales and service organization as well as our production network.”
