Global Reach Aids Design, Manufacture of Trucks and Buses, Daimler Head Says

HANOVER, GERMANY -- Global reach is the key to Daimler Trucks' strategy for success in markets around the world, and the large company's economies of scale in manufacturing and distribution will generate profits that can be poured into research and development that will save customers fuel and money.

Andreas Renschler, head of Daimler Commercial Vehicles, said large, strong companies have the resources to design clean-burning engines to meet emissions standards in Europe, North America and Japan, and governments in emerging nations are adopting those standards instead of writing their own.

Daimler is among firms in Western Europe, Japan and North America - the "triad" markets -- with "the right technologies, right off-the-shelf" to help builders and customers in Brazil, Russia, India and China, the so-called BRIC nations whose markets are briskly expanding, Renschler told a gathering of trucking journalists in Hanover, Germany.

"That, in turn, is the basis to grow profitably in the BRIC markets," he said. "Because more commonality means more synergies and scale effects, better efficiency, even better quality. It all adds up to greater competitive edge."

The journalists were in Hanover as guests of Daimler to cover the Internationale Automobil Ausstellung, the biennial IAA truck show in Hanover, Germany, which opens Sept. 18. Among them were editors from the United States and Canada.

"As local as necessary and as global as possible" is how Renschler described several of the trucks designed for manufacture and sale in BRIC markets.

Daimler powertrain components made in Germany go into trucks assembled in those countries. Soon, components will be made there, too.

Like other manufacturers, Daimler has its own operations in Brazil and joint ventures in those places.

Meanwhile, customers in China, India and Russia are beginning to turn away from low initial price and are seeking higher quality vehicles that will be more reliable and last longer.

"In sum, customers in the emerging markets are discovering total cost of ownership," he said. This fits in with Daimler's approach to design and manufacture.

Short-term setbacks caused by economic downturns and crises in some markets, such as the current one in Europe and the Great Recession in the U.S., are usually offset by simultaneous upturns in others, which balances the overall health of the company, Renschler said.

The growing importance of trucks to move goods to market all over the word presents long-term opportunities for truck builders and operators.

The IAA runs 10 days at a complex of exhibition buildings and claims to be the largest truck show in the world. Daimler, one of many manufacturers exhibiting at the show, occupies a large building by itself.