Mercedes-Benz leads sales of trucks and buses in Brazil

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

Stuttgart/S�o Bernardo, Jul 04, 2008

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Mercedes-Benz boosted its sales in Brazil with 19,246 trucks and 7,710 buses sold in the first half of this year and ensures its market leadership
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The company sets as well a new historical sales record of heavy trucks with 1,033 units sold in June

Mercedes-Benz do Brasil is the leading seller of commercial vehicles in the Brazilian market. In the first half of this year 19,246 trucks were sold in the segment over 3.5 tons of total gross weight (TGW). This result ensures Mercedes-Benz the leadership with a 31 percent market share. In the bus segment Mercedes-Benz sold 7,710 units, representing a 50 percent market share.

The overall Brazilian truck market grew up to 35 percent year to year with 61,775 units sold. Sales in the bus sector grew by 18 percent, where 15,376 units were sold in the first half of 2008.
Key drivers for the high volume of trucks sold are activites like civil construction, mining as well as harvesting of sugar cane and grains. These applications require mainly trucks with a high cargo capacity, which Mercedes-Benz fully attends by offering the line of Axor heavy models.

�Apart from the other advantages, our trucks also ensure the lowest operational cost in the market to the customers, ensuring the brand leadership in the sector also in this semester�, declares Philipp Schiemer, Sales Vice-President at Mercedes-Benz do Brasil. Outstanding models in customer preference are the semi-heavy Atego 2425, which sales grew by 94 percent in relation to 2007 and the Axor 2540 with growth in sales of 104 percent.
In the bus sector growth in sales is mainly due to greater circulation of people in urban centers. This demand has been attended by Mercedes-Benz offering several new models like the articulated buses, which can transport up to 160 passengers per trip.

Leadership and sales record of heavy models in June

Mercedes-Benz do Brasil also led sales of commercial vehicles in the internal market in June. The volume of 3,554 trucks sold during this month resulted in a market share of 30 percent. The company sets as well a new historical sales record of heavy trucks with 1,033 units sold in June. Sales of 1,284 bus units in June renewed the company�s leadership in this sector with a share of 47 percent.
Total sales in the Brazilian truck market reached 11,730 units in June, which represents a 34 percent growth in relation to June of 2007. Volume in the bus sector reached 2,746 units, 24 percent more than in June last year.

Apart from the most complete line of trucks and buses in the country, Mercedes-Benz offers its customers the most complete post-sales package in the market and the widest dealer network. Due to this well developed network Mercedes-Benz surpassed the milestone of 10,000 remanufactured engines sold in the two quarters of 2008.

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