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%.