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Sales and service of Mercedes-Benz Trucks and Buses, Mercedes-Benz Vans and FUSO trucks and buses in 18 countries from Singapore

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Dr. Wolfgang Bernhard, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG, with responsibility for Daimler Trucks & Buses, explains: “In Southeast Asia we sold more than 40,000 commercial vehicles in the past year. That illustrates how important this region is for us already. And that importance will increase within the coming years: In the emerging countries of Southeast Asia the demand for trucks, buses and vans will rise continuously – and we are determined to participate heavily in this growth. That is the clear objective of our new regional center. As the innovation leader and logistic hub of this region, Singapore is the perfect spot for it.”

Kawasaki – Daimler Trucks Asia is continuing to regionalize its sales and service organization, by making use of synergies within Daimler Commercial Vehicles.

Today Daimler opened a new regional center for its commercial vehicles business in Southeast Asia. Responsible for 18 markets, the new Daimler South East Asia Pte Ltd regional center (DSEA), based in Singapore, oversees sales and service activities covering both FUSO trucks and buses as well as Mercedes-Benz trucks, buses and vans – from the urban light-duty Mercedes-Benz Citan transporter to the heavy-duty FUSO Super Great V.

“In Southeast Asia we sold more than 40,000 commercial vehicles in the past year. That illustrates how important this region is for us”, stated Dr Wolfgang Bernhard, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG, with responsibility for Daimler Trucks & Buses. “That importance will increase within the coming years: In the emerging countries of Southeast Asia the demand for trucks, buses and vans will rise continuously – and we are determined to participate heavily in this growth. That is the clear objective of our new regional center. As the innovation leader and logistic hub of this region, Singapore is the perfect spot for it”, added Dr. Bernhard.

At the Singapore location, Daimler’s new center for Southeast Asia benefits from the dynamic business climate, a potential of highly qualified workforce and the excellent infrastructure of the island state. With one of the best airports in the region and as the second largest container port in the world, Singapore is the central transport and logistics hub for the region. Mercedes-Benz has been active in Singapore since the 1950s.

Southeast Asia: growth region with increasing investments

The business of Daimler’s commercial vehicle divisions in the Southeast Asia region covers 18 markets, including Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and Vietnam. With 622 million inhabitants, the region is more populous than the USA (> 300 million) or Europe (> 500 million) and, with over 50 percent of the population under the age of 30, it offers dynamic prospects for the long-term future. In 2015 ten Southeast Asian countries (Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, the Philippines, Myanmar, Laos, Brunei and Cambodia) formed the ASEAN Economic Community in order to strengthen cross-border trade. Foreign direct investments (FDIs) in the ASEAN area rose from USD 85 billion in 2007 to USD 136 billion in 2014. Emerging economies with growing transport needs offer market opportunities both for Mercedes-Benz and for FUSO Commercial Vehicles – in 2015 the truck market in Vietnam, for example, grew by 92 percent, and the truck market in the Philippines grew by 27 percent. The overall market volume in Southeast Asia totaled around 225,000 vehicles (2015). Daimler sold more than 40,000 commercial vehicles in the Southeast Asia region in 2015.

Clear focus on the needs of commercial vehicle customers

With the foundation of the six regional centers, Daimler Trucks Asia is focusing even more strongly on regional customer demands in the commercial vehicle sector – and doing so locally. With the FUSO function fully integrated in these regional centers, Daimler Trucks Asia is profiting from synergies within Daimler Commercial Vehicles. Since October 2015 Daimler has managed its commercial vehicle activities in the Middle East & North Africa region (MENA) from a regional sales center in Dubai. In February 2016 the two regional centers for Africa (East, Central and West Africa) and the Southern Africa region (South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana, Malawi, Zambia, Lesotho and Swaziland) opened their offices. The two centers are together responsible for 50 markets on the African continent.

Until now Daimler has primarily overseen these regions from the Group headquarters in Stuttgart for Mercedes-Benz as well as from the Daimler Trucks Asia headquarters in Kawasaki/ Japan for FUSO. Further regionalisation is helping Daimler Trucks Asia to bring the business even closer to the pulse of the market.

Daimler Trucks Asia has started selling its all-new robust FUSO trucks range in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam and has a plan to introduce these vehicles in the remaining markets. This new range is developed for the different needs of customers in growth markets.

DCV SEA is fourth of six regional centers after the opening of DCV MENA in Dubai (responsible for Middle East and North Africa) in October 2015, DCV Africa in Nairobi, Kenya (responsible for East, Central and West Africa) and DCV Southern Africa.

The regional center currently serves a total of 18 markets: Brunei, Cambodia, French Polynesia, Fiji, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Vanuatu, Thailand and Vietnam.

In the past, Daimler had managed these regions primarily from its group headquarters in Stuttgart. Further decentralization will keep the business even more in tune with the market. The many years of product and service-related expertise pay off in this respect just as much as the broad portfolio of products offered by the group’s various commercial vehicles brands.

Daimler Trucks Asia (DTA) is an organizational unit that jointly operates Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation (MFTBC) – an icon of the Japanese commercial vehicle industry with more than 80 years of its history – and Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV), a young challenger in the Indian market. DTA has a strategic business model that allows its group entities to collaborate in product development, production, exports, sourcing and research activity to provide the best of value products.

Based in Kawasaki, Japan, Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation (MFTBC) is one of the Asia’s leading commercial vehicle manufacturers. In 2015, the company sold a total of about 154,200 vehicles including light-, medium- and heavy-duty trucks and buses as FUSO brand. Daimler AG owns 89.29% and various Mitsubishi group companies own 10.71% of MFTBC shares. MFTBC is an integral part of the Daimler Trucks division of Daimler AG.

Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) is a 100% subsidiary of Daimler AG, Stuttgart, Germany. DICV is a fully fledged commercial vehicle player in the Indian market. It currently produces and sells above 9 to 49 tons trucks for the Indian volume market, under the brand name – BharatBenz. BharatBenz stands for Indian engineering with German DNA.

Under its bus division, the company will produce and sell BharatBenz buses and Mercedes-Benz buses from its manufacturing plant at Oragadam. Bharat-Benz products have been engineered to serve all major customer segments with a focus on total-cost-of ownership, safety, reliability and comfort. Under the umbrella of Daimler Trucks Asia, DICV and MFTBC (Mitsubishi Trucks and Bus Corporation) are optimizing research activities, product development and sourcing. The DICV built FUSO trucks from Oragadam are exported to markets in South East Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

The state-of-the-art production plant at Oragadam, near Chennai, spreads over 400 acres (160 hectares). It includes a modern test track designed to simulate Indian conditions – making it one of its kind in Asia. DICV has made an initial investment of approximately €750 million for the bus plant facility. Sustainability being a core of Daimler’s corporate culture, DICV will focus on creating efficient, reliable and ecologically friendly products.