After recently opening a new bus plant in India, Daimler said it was further expanding its bus business in Latin America: wholly owned subsidiary Daimler Colombia is opening a new bus plant in Funza near Bogotá with an installed capacity of 4,000 units per year.
The plant is costing US£2m and occupies 11,000 sq m. The company is preparing for the growing demand for regular buses as well as efficient mobility solutions in the metropolises of the region. This includes the innovative bus rapid transit system for public bus transport in large cities.
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Hartmut Schick, head of Daimler Buses, said: “In a currently challenging market such as Latin America, we are investing in the future viability of our locations and in modern vehicle technologies. With the new bus assembly, we want to further tap into market potentials in the Latin American bus vehicle business.”
The Latin American market is the second largest bus region in the world. The market is expected to stabilise at a level of over 40,000 units in the long run.
“With our modern bus portfolio featuring BlueTec 5 technology, we are meeting the growing demand of the Colombian market and our neighbouring Latin American countries for clean and efficient vehicles,” said Mathias Held, president of Daimler Colombia.
With a market share of over 30%, Mercedes-Benz buses already have a strong presence in the urban traffic of Bogotá today. The modern emission technology, which fulfils the environmental standards of the local linked transport system ‘Sistema Integrado de Transporte Público’ (SITP) and with that also the standards of the bus rapid transit (BRT) system ‘TransMilenio’, plays a significant role in this context.
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By GlobalDataDaimler said the TransMilenio BRT system in Bogotá is “the textbook example of a successful transport solution for a metropolis that is home to millions of people”. More than 2,300 Daimler buses are running in the SITP and TransMilenio system in Bogotá. Due to the large number of passengers and the high transit speed, it is one of the world´s leading bus transport systems.
Latin America
Daimler opened its first bus assembly factory in Bogotá in 2012. Due to its limited production capacity, Daimler Colombia is now opening the new plant in Funza creating 220 new jobs. The bus assembly facility is supplied by the Brazilian Daimler subsidiary Mercedes-Benz do Brasil with headquarters in São Bernardo do Campo. The bus chassis are delivered as disassembled CKD (completely knocked down) kits to Funza where final assembly takes place. Daimler Colombia will initially offer six different bus chassis featuring BlueTec 5 technology for the Colombian market. In future, the buses are also to be exported to surrounding neighbouring countries such as Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador and Central America.
With the new bus plant in Funza, Daimler strengthens its production network for commercial vehicles in Latin America which is managed by Mercedes-Benz do Brasil. They include the three production plants in Brazil located in São Bernardo do Campo, Campinas and Juiz de Fora. The integrated production network also comprises the Argentinian plant in Buenos Aires as well as the new Colombian plant in Funza near Bogotá. With a total of five production sites, Daimler is thus the largest manufacturer of commercial vehicles in Latin America.
In the difficult market environment of 2014, the Daimler Buses division was able to secure its leading market position in Latin America with a market share of 48.6% and sales of 17,600 units.
