Daimler NE Asia: New sales record in 2010

Daimler Northeast Asia has once again shattered all records with its best ever year, achieving success in all regions and in all business units.
With the four exclusive brands of Mercedes-Benz, smart, AMG and Maybach achieving total sales of almost 176,330 units in 2010 - a 105 percent growth from 2009 - Daimler continues to build on its leadership in the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea.
"Daimler Northeast Asia has shown unprecedented passenger car growth in 2010, increasing by 115 percent on the Chinese mainland, 36 percent in Hong Kong, 49 percent in Taiwan and 86 percent in South Korea," said Ulrich Walker, chairman and CEO of Daimler Northeast Asia.
South Korea is now the group's second-fastest growing premium car market after China.
As the only manufacturer in China to operate across the board, from passenger vehicles to heavy-duty trucks, business performance in the Chinese market is the driving force behind Daimler's growth in the region. "Our overall business performance in Mercedes-Benz trucks, vans, financial services, and Daimler parts is also quite impressive, in addition to incredible passenger cars in 2010. By 2015, Daimler aims to sell 300,000 vehicles per year in China," Walker said.
Daimler sold more than 3,000 imported Mercedes-Benz heavy-duty trucks, hitting a new sales record.
Its finance arm Mercedes-Benz Auto Finance Ltd, established in 2005 as the first financing company in China, broke through the 1 billion euro ($1.3 billion) mark by the end of the year.
Another convincing demonstration of Daimler's commitment to the local market is its expanding joint ventures.
More joint ventures
In the passenger vehicle sector, Beijing Benz Automotive Co Ltd has continued to flourish in 2010.
Because of the anticipated high demand for the C-Class and the new long-wheel-base E-Class, Beijing Benz has tripled its capacity, increasing nameplate capacity for Mercedes-Benz to almost 100,000 units annually.
Moreover, Daimler will also invest around 200 million euros ($260 million) to build a new engine plant, which is the first Mercedes car engine plant outside Germany. It will be operational by 2013 with an initial capacity of 100,000 units annually.
Fujian Daimler Automotive Ltd, Daimler's joint venture with Fujian Motors Group for Mercedes-Benz van production has impressed the market with more than 9,000 units of its Viano, Vito and Sprinter models sold in 2010, while Daimler and Beiqi Foton's 50-50 joint venture deal for trucks was approved by the government in July.
Green-energy cars
A 600 million yuan joint venture between Daimler and BYD Co - a Shenzhen-based automaker- will produce a new electric vehicle created specifically for the Chinese market, with a planned release date of 2013.
Walker predicted that by 2015, about 5 percent of the cars sold in China will be powered by green energy, as the Chinese government is making strong efforts to encourage and promote use of cars with fuel efficiency.
"We have very reliable partners," Walker said. "As the first and only international automotive manufacturer that had successfully deepened its cooperation with China in all segments, Daimler is going to invest a total of 3 billion euros ($3.9 billion) in China by 2015 together with its local joint venture partners."