- Move into the premium segment for long-distance road haulage trucks in Turkey
- Plans call for assembly of the Mercedes-Benz Actros in Aksaray
- Hubertus Troska, Head of Mercedes-Benz Trucks: “We are following a clear growth strategy for our flagship vehicle, the Mercedes-Benz Actros.”
Stuttgart / Aksaray, Turkey – Mercedes-Benz Trucks has decided to further expand its commitment in Turkey and to move into new market segments in the country. To achieve these objectives, the Mercedes-Benz Actros will be launched on the Turkish market in late 2010, and will be produced at the Aksaray location. These vehicles of the “Truck of the Year 2009” are intended for the Turkish market and for export from Turkey.
Hubertus Troska, Head of Mercedes-Benz Trucks: “We are following a clear growth strategy for our flagship vehicle, the Mercedes-Benz Actros. An important step in this effort is to quickly and flexibly meet the significantly increasing demand for heavy-duty, long-distance road haulage trucks in the premium segment in Turkey.”
Mercedes-Benz Trucks managed to counter the current market trend by boosting its market share in Turkey, and its 41.1 percent market share in the heavy-duty trucks segment clearly makes it the market leader. Troska explained the objective of this commitment: “We want to further strengthen and expand our market leadership by producing the Actros in Turkey for the domestic market there. Turkey is a core market for us, and this intensified commitment will enable us to be about as strongly positioned there as we are in Germany.”
With the full product range in Turkey and assembly in the country, Mercedes-Benz Trucks is showing a long-term commitment to Turkey as a production location. Aside from the BRIC countries, Turkey is one of the most important markets with growth potential and the third-largest sales market for
Mercedes-Benz Trucks, after Germany and Brazil.
Yaris Pürsün, who is responsible for production of Mercedes-Benz Trucks and the Wörth and Aksaray plants: “We have had a strong presence in the important growth market in Turkey for many years, and we will continue to invest despite the crisis — that’s a clear signal of our commitment to Turkey as a production location. In addition, the greater flexibility we achieve by linking the Wörth and Aksaray plants is very important.”
With the Actros, Mercedes-Benz Türk is topping off the range of products produced in Turkey — from the Atego to the Axor to the Unimog — with the Mercedes-Benz flagship truck in the heavy-duty long-distance road haulage segment. The expansion of Actros production to the Turkish location also safeguards employment for the work force at the Wörth plant, which is the biggest Mercedes-Benz truck plant, given that the first step calls for the Actros trucks to be sent from Wörth to Aksaray in the form of kits. The heavy-duty trucks will be assembled and built in Turkey. The product range will include not only semitrailer trucks but also the construction-site version of the Actros. All of the trucks feature the tried and tested BlueTec engines from Mercedes-Benz and satisfy the Euro 4 and Euro 5 emissions standards.
