MARCOPOLO: 17,807 BUSES BUILT IN 2007
The Brazilian coachbuilder Marcopolo last year completed 17,807 buses, built on chassis from 15 different manufacturers. The main chassis suppliers are Volvo, Scania and MAN, but its buses are also built on lesser-known makes like Daewoo, Nissan Diesel, Voldai and Tata, its Indian co-operation partner.
Marcopolo built 14,824 units in 2006, but has plans to pass the 20,000 mark this year, counting on an expected growth of 10 percent of the Brazilian market. One of the other countries were this increased volume should come from, is India, where the joint venture with Tata should lead to results with regard to sales. Marcopolo S.A. has been investing $90 million to set up a plant in India on the basis of a contract it won to deliver 525 buses for the public transportation in New Delhi, in partnership with Tata Motors Ltd. So far bus bodies are being assembled in a provisory site at Lucknow, while the plant is to be erected at Dharwa and designed with capacity for 110 buses per day, with completion scheduled for August this year. The initial joint venture of Marcopolo (49%) and Tata Motors (51%) pointed to investments of $13.5 million, and with higher plans, the partners are to seek funding in the market. The goal is to revolutionise the quality standard of the bus transportation in India, the first buses delivered were valued positively by users and transportation authorities. The joint venture is set for a $72 million income in 2008, $140 million in 2009 and $220 million in 2010, with all bodies manufactured with parts locally produced.
Marcopolo S.A. reported for the year 2007 a net profit of BRL132.3 million in 2007, 9.5% more than in 2006. The company´s net operating revenue grew 21.6% in the period, to BRL 2.13 billion. The revenue from Marcopolo´s exports and international operations grew 9.4% in the same comparison, to BRL 898 million, while the domestic operations revenue rose 32.5%, to BRL 1.23 billion.
