“Some individual markets show a slight drop in their growth rate, but overall there is no indication that the markets are fundamentally weakening,” said Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche.
“Our plants are fully utilized through the end of the year and we have a good order backlog for the first quarter of 2012.”
Compared with the passenger car market, heavy trucks are seen as capital goods, so demand fluctuates closely in line with economic growth.
Truck demand dived after the collapse of investment bank Lehman Brothers in 2008, and in 2009 factories produced only half as many vehicles as the previous year.
Daimler aims to deliver some 500,000 trucks in 2013 thanks in part to the rollout of its new heavy duty flagship, the Mercedes-Benz Actros, built in Woerth, Germany.
Starting that year, the trucks business is expected to deliver an 8 percent operating margin over the entire cycle.
“We are already the market leader in the EU with a share of more than 20 percent, but I am confident there is further upside potential,” Zetsche said.
Asked by reporters what the recent takeover by Volkswagen of German rival MAN SE means for Daimler, Zetsche said there was potential for MAN together with VW’s other heavy truck brand Scania to eventually achieve significant scale effects.
“But we’ve had these scale effects ourselves for years now through (Daimler units) Freightliner and then Mitsubishi Fuso,” Zetsche said.
“For now, it will cost them money and time,” he added, explaining it takes at least 10 years before the really significant synergies can be achieved by jointly developing and building trucks and engines.
“It’s our job to use that time to ensure that we remain the leader in the mid to long term,” Zetsche said.
