DAIMLER BUSES HAS A SOUND THIRD QUARTER
Daimler AG, the German car, van, truck and bus manufacturer, achieved an EBIT of Euro 648 Million in the third quarter of 2008, including charges from special factors totalling euro 765 million. Net profit was 213 million Euro, compared to a loss of 1,533 million in the same period of last year. Total revenue was down by 7% to 23.8 billion Euro, but the van, truck and bus divisions performed well.
The decline in EBIT is primarily the result of lower earnings at the Mercedes-Benz Cars division. There were positive effects, however, from improved earnings at the Daimler Trucks division as well as at the Mercedes-Benz Vans and Daimler Buses units. The profit contribution from Daimler Financial Services was also above the prior-year level. Part of the Daimler Bus unit are Evobus, with the makes Mercedes-Benz and Setra, Orion, Thomas Built buses, Mitsubishi Fuso buses, and the Brazilian Mercedes-Benz bus operations.
Daimler Buses sold 10,800 buses and chassis in the third quarter, surpassing the very high level of the prior-year period by 15%. A strong contribution to this result came from sales in Europe, where 2,300 buses of the Mercedes-Benz and Setra brands were sold (+31%). Unit sales also developed very positively in Mexico (+44%) and South America (+3%). Daimler Buses expects to post record unit sales once again this year.