From the Newsroom
São Paulo – DaimlerChrysler of Brasil, the owner of the Mercedes-Benz brand, has sold 43 urban use buses, Model O 500 M with Busscar Urbanus Plus bodies to Kuwait Public Transport Company (KPTC), in a US$ 3.5 million deal. In 2002 the company had already purchased 28 OH 1421 chassis, another model produced by the company.
According to a spokesperson for the company, the plan is to end the year having exported 1,283 units to the Middle East, 13% of total company sales abroad. Last year 865 vehicles were sold to the region, including Egypt.
According to the spokesperson, the Brazilian DaimlerChrysler subsidiary has been consolidating its space in the Middle Eastern market since 2001, when it sold 800 units of chassis O 500 M to Taseco, the Saudi Arabian bus company. The company also states that the buses were purchased for use in pilgrim transport in the cities of Mecca and Medina.
In 2003, 264 units of the same model were sold to the Middle East. Mercedes mentioned as their main buyers companies Saptco, another Saudi company (150 units), Bahrain (35), Oman (23), United Arab Emirates (13). To the Emirates another 13 O 400 RSE model chassis were shipped, this last model for highway transport.
"This year we have increased our business with the Middle East, proving the perfect adaptation of the Mercedes-Benz O 500 M chassis to that market," stated company export director Pedro Knoepfelmacher, through a spokesperson.
Profile
DaimlerChrysler do Brasil produced over 47,000 vehicles last year, between trucks, buses, and cars, being 1,087 trucks and 4,364 buses exported. In total, company revenue in 2002 was US$ 1.5 billion.
The Brazilian subsidiary started operating in 1956 and has three factories in the country, one in São Bernardo do Campo, one of the cities in greater São Paulo, another in Campinas, a large city in the interior of the state of São Paulo, and one in Juiz de Fora, in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais. In December last year, the number of employees was 11,035.
