Daimler forecasts future growth

At the recent annual press conference for Daimler AG's truck and bus division in Germany, the manufacturing giant highlighted the strong performance of its commercial heavy-vehicle operations last year and flagged significant growth for the years ahead.

Globally Daimler Trucks sold nearly half a million vehicles last year, also increasing its operating profit (earnings before tax and interest) by 18 per cent and its return on sales by 6.4 per cent, when compared to the previous year's figures.

The division's operating profit totalled Euro 2.1 billion ($A3.0 billion) in 2014, compared to Euro 1.8 billion ($A2.6 billion) in 2013, despite some tough market conditions in many parts of the world.

Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG responsible for Trucks and Buses, Dr Wolfgang Bernhard, said the division's strategy was working.

"We are concentrating on our strengths and are offering our customers trucks with leading technologies, the lowest operating costs and with top quality," he said.

"This is paying off."

He also outlined the division's hopes for the future, predicting strong growth for the years ahead.

"In 2014, we achieved what we promised – despite partly weaker markets – and improved our results significantly," he said.

"In 2015, we plan to stay on this course of success and again increase our unit sales and operating profit. We will continue to come closer to our long-term objectives step by step."

Dr Bernhard said Daimler Trucks was targeting the sale of 700,000 units and achieving return on sales of eight per cent in 2020, with strong growth in North America and Asia expected to be key drivers in attaining these ambitions.

Daimler Trucks says 2015 should see sales of medium- and heavy-duty trucks (Class 6 to 8) increase by 10 per cent in North America, while Europe will remain at last year's level. A slight drop is predicted for Japan but Indonesia is expected to grow by 10 per cent. Weaker market conditions will persist in Brazil, which is expected to experience a contraction of 10 per cent.

Daimler says it's now well positioned to capitalise on the upswing in North America, as it's the only manufacturer to offer a fully integrated powertrain where the engine, transmission and axles come from a single source. It says it's hoping to build on the sales success of its Freightliner Cascadia Evolution (pictured) in North America, and has high hopes for its new Western Star 5700 XE (also pictured).