Daimler Trucks increased its sales in the first 11 months of 2017 by 12% year-on-year, to 422,500 units. For the full 2016 year, the Daimler truck division sold about 415,100 Mercedes-Benz, FUSO, Freightliner, Western Star, Thomas Built Buses and BharatBenz brands vehicles worldwide.

“For full-year 2017, we at Daimler Trucks anticipate unit sales in the magnitude of 465,000 trucks – significantly more than in the previous year and significantly more than we expected at the beginning of the year,” says Martin Daum, member of the board of management of Daimler AG, responsible for Trucks & Buses.

Daum says everything Daimler does is customer-focused.

“In order to offer them the best products and solutions, we work continuously on innovations. We used the year 2017 to work hard on efficient, electric, automated and connected trucks. In the same way, we will be sustainably successful in 2018 – the year of the IAA Commercial Vehicles show – and beyond.”

The significant growth in unit sales achieved by Daimler Trucks was driven by the positive sales development in the NAFTA region, especially in the second half of the year.

Daimler Trucks also increased its sales in the EU30 region (European Union, Switzerland and Norway), and is the best-selling brand in Germany, with a market share of 36.6%. Sales in Russia, Turkey, Latin America and Asia also increased.

In addition to its sales success, Daimler Trucks‘ development team continued its intensive work on the electrification of the heavy-duty Mercedes-Benz truck, which will be on the road this year. Last year the first fully electric FUSO eCanter light-duty trucks were handed over to customers, and large-series production is planned for 2019.

Daimler is the first truck producer to test the use of digitally connected trucks (platooning) on public highways in the United States. This year Daimler Trucks North America will test the digital coupling of trucks in normal transport operation together with large fleet customers.