Germany’s Daimler has opened its first regional center for commercial vehicles for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in Dubai’s Jebel Ali Freezone.
Daimler Commercial Vehicles (DCV) MENA will support 19 countries from the new hub in Dubai and will manage the group’s full portfolio of commercial vehicles in the region, the manufacturer announced. The new centre will offer Mercedes-Benz trucks, buses and vans, FUSO vehicles, and Setra buses.
“Our new regional center will allow us to respond even faster and better to the needs of our customers,” said Dr. Wolfgang Bernhard, member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG responsible for Daimler Trucks & Buses, at the opening of the centre in Dubai.
“We are convinced that this new setup is an important step to benefit further from the growth potential of this region in the sales and after-sales business.”
The new facility is the first of six regional centres being opened for Daimler’s commercial vehicle business worldwide, and similar bases will follow for Central Africa, Southern Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia and Latin America within the next few months. Until now, these regions were managed by Daimler from its group headquarters in Stuttgart.
The German manufacturer expects that further decentralisation will ensure the business is more in tune with the market, it said.
In the MENA region, the three biggest sales markets for Daimler’s trucks, buses and vans are the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, accounting for approximately two thirds of all deliveries. Between 2011 and 2014, unit sales of trucks, buses and vans in the MENA grew by an average of 23% per annum, and the group sold 45,900 commercial vehicles in the region last year.
DCV MENA will cater to the following markets: Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, UAE and Yemen.
