Analysts had speculated Iveco could be acquisition target
Turin,Italy -Dow Jones/Fox Business, by Gilles Castonguay -September 19, 2011: -- Iveco's chief executive said Monday he remains open to considering technical collaborations with other truck makers, but he had not had any contacts so far... Given Iveco's relative small size in Europe, analysts have speculated about an eventual purchase by a bigger rival such as Daimler AG... With the new Daily, Iveco aims to increase sales of the vehicle in Europe to 100,000 units a year for a market share of 15%. At the moment, annual sales range between 75,000 and 80,000 units. Iveco, which is based in Turin along with Fiat SpA, starts rolling out the new Daily this month.. Although Iveco has a presence in Europe, Brazil and China, it has yet to enter the U.S., a huge market for van and trucks. Altavilla said Iveco is discussing the possibility with Chrysler Group LLC, adding that the new Daily is already U.S. compliant...
* Belgium - EU Commission Approves VW Acquisition Of Truck Maker MAN
Brussels,Belgium -Dow Jones/Fox Business, by Alessandro Torello -September 26, 2011: -- The European Commission cleared Monday the planned acquisition of German truck maker MAN SE by car giant Volkswagen... "The Commission concluded that the proposed transaction would not significantly impede effective competition (...) because the merged entity would continue to face strong competition from other well established manufacturers," the commission, which has antitrust powers in the European Union, said in a statement...
* Germany - Daimler Forecasts Truck Sales Growth With Orders Into Next Year
Muensingen, Germany -Bloomberg, by Andreas Cremer -19 Sept 2010: -- Daimler AG, the world’s largest maker of heavy-duty vehicles, expects truck sales to keep growing, even as economies show signs of cooling, as customers order vehicles into next year... Stuttgart, Germany-based Daimler sold 39,090 trucks in August, the highest monthly level of deliveries since late 2008, Andreas Renschler, head of the Daimler Trucks division, said today. Eight-month sales rose 18 percent to 259,618 units... Daimler forecasts its own truck sales will increase annually by about 14 percent to over 500,000 vehicles by 2013 as the company expands in China, Russia and India, Renschler said. The European market as a whole may grow 35 percent to 40 percent this year, while the U.S. may expand 30 percent to 35 percent... European sales of heavy trucks weighing 16 tons or more surged 56 percent in the first six months to almost 120,000, powered by growth in markets including Germany, France and the U.K., the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association said... Daimler may over time decide to expand its holding in OAO KamAZ, depending on how conditions in Russia develop, the executive said. Daimler currently owns 15 percent of the Russian truckmaker... Daimler expects to win final approval from the Chinese government to start a joint venture with Beiqi Foton Motor Co. by the end of this year. Cooperation with Beiqi Foton may allow the truckmaker to build over 100,000 of the Auman truck per year, he said...
* Belgium - Volkswagen to gain EU okay for MAN buy - sources
Brussels,Belgium -Reuters, by Foo Yun Chee/Rex Merrifield and Elaine Hardcastle -Sept 21, 2011: -- German carmaker Volkswagen is set to secure unconditional EU approval to buy truckmaker MAN SE after overcoming earlier procedural difficulties with regulators, two sources said on Wednesday... Volkswagen, which aims to become Europe's largest truckmaker to compete with rivals Volvo and Daimler, riled EU regulators in June when it tried to take control of MAN's supervisory board ahead of clearance of the deal... But the group, Europe's largest automaker, dropped plans to appoint several of its managers to MAN's board after the European Commission said the move would breach EU merger rules... Volkswagen won EU approval in 2008 to purchase Swedish truckmaker Scania after a preliminary review by the regulator found no competition concerns... MAN would be Volkswagen's second major industry holding after Scania. Volkswagen clinched a 55.9 percent stake in Munich-based MAN in July...
* Brazil - MAN sees truck sales in Brazil up 10 pct per year
Rio de Janeiro,RJ,Brazil -Reuters, by Rodrigo Viga Gaier; Brad Haynes; and Gerald E. McCormick -Sep 16, 2011: -- German truck and bus maker MAN SE expects to increase sales in Brazil by 10 percent annually over the next five years, chief Latin American executive Roberto Cortes said on Friday... Cortes said in interview with Reuters the expectations were due to Brazil's economic growth, infrastructure spending and incentives to buy heavy vehicles. Volkswagen AG, one of the four biggest carmakers in the fast-growing Brazilian market, owns around 56 percent of MAN...
* Germany's Daimler to make trucks in China
(AFP/File, John Macdougall)
Shanghai,SH,China -AFP -27 Sept 2011: -- German auto maker Daimler said Monday it had received Chinese government approval for a truck joint venture, as the world's vehicle makers look to China for growth amid a global economic slump... Daimler Truck, a unit of the German company, would hold a 50 percent stake in the venture, which would have annual production capacity of 160,000 trucks, Daimler said in a statement... The Chinese partner in the joint venture, Beijing-based Foton Motors, is a key player in China's truck market, selling 105,000 vehicles last year. Foton is a unit of industry giant Beijing Automotive Industry Corporation... The deal will give Daimler a 50 percent stake in Foton's medium- and heavy-truck business, the statement said... The joint venture would also move towards localised production of a truck engine developed by Mercedes-Benz...
* China - Car makers pushed to build abroad
[Photo/China Daily: China-made cars for export at a port in Pudong district, Shanghai. Chinese auto exports to Brazil may be hit by a new tax increase from the Brazilian government]
Beijing,China -China Daily, by Li Fangfang and Ding Qingfen -20 Sept 2011: -- Brazil's import substitution policy in the vehicle sector will put pressure on Chinese auto exports, but it will also help accelerate their decision to establish local manufacturing in order to gain a stable foothold in the world's fifth-biggest auto market... In a move to replace imports with domestically made vehicles, Brazil's government said on Sept 16 that taxes on imported cars and trucks and those that fail to meet localization rates of 65 percent will be raised by 30 percentage points... The move, which will remain in effect until December 2020, will increase Brazil's industrial product tax on cars by between 7 and 25 percent, depending on engine size, to as much as 55 percent... According to Fenabrave, the Brazilian car dealers association, Chinese automakers now control 3.29 percent of the country's car sales, up from close to 0 percent in April 2010. In the first eight months of this year, Chinese automakers sold more than 43,000 vehicles in Brazil, where 2.6 million passenger cars were sold last year... The consultancy IHS Automotive forecasts that by 2015, passenger car sales in Brazil will have risen by 33 percent, and by 2020, passenger car sales are likely to have increased to more than 4.5 million units, offering more growth potential amid slowing growth rates in China... Since last year, a number of Chinese automakers have begun taking advantage of the favorable trade agreements between Brazil and China, which became Brazil's largest trading partner in 2009. Brazil is being targeted because it is the largest market in the region and offers high-volume sales, combined with a large established auto-making industry and parts suppliers...
* Sweden - Scania Sales Chief Sees Firm Truck Demand in Shaky Economy
Soedertaelje,Sweden -Bloomberg, by Ola Kinnander & Andreas Cremer & David Risser & Robert Valpuesta -Sept. 21, 2011: -- Truck demand is holding up amid the global economic slowdown as Brazil, Russia, India and China continue to drive growth, Scania AB’s sales chief said... While customers of the Swedish truckmaker controlled by Volkswagen AG are increasingly nervous about economic uncertainty, that has yet to translate into a decline in orders, Martin Lundstedt said in an interview yesterday at the company’s headquarters in Soedertaelje... Scania expects to meet a goal to double sales in China to about 1,000 trucks this year, and aims to reach about 5,000 vehicles in three to four years, Lundstedt said. The manufacturer may try to produce trucks in China when it hits about 10,000 sales a year in the country, he said... Lundstedt also reiterated that Scania aims to sell 150,000 trucks and buses by the next “peak in demand,” up from 63,712 deliveries in 2010... In Europe, the truckmaker is having “fine development” in the northern portion of the continent, while southern Europe is struggling, the executive said...
* China - Great Wall Motor May Raise Up to Billions in Shanghai Share Sales
(Photo: Great Wall dealership in Adelaide, Australia)
Baoding,Hebei,China -Modern Finance Reporter -September 15, 2011: ... Great Wall will sell 304.2 million shares at 13 yuan to 14 yuan each, the company said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange yesterday. The Baoding, China-based automaker had planned to raise as much as 3.17 billion yuan, according to its prospectus... The maker of Hover sport-utility vehicles is raising funds to pay for expansion amid a 12 percent slump in the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index this year. The company said last month it’s seeking money to accelerate project construction and boost the output of engines, transmissions, axles and brakes, aluminum alloy cast parts, decoration and lighting... Great Wall is selling stock as automobile sales in China slow from last year’s record 32 percent gain after the government removed sales-tax breaks and rebates for rural purchases. Total vehicle deliveries expanded 3.3 percent in the first eight months, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers...
* USA - Terminal Truck Maker Expands Distribution Network
Longview,Texas,USA -The Journal of Commerce. by William B. Cassidy -Sep 16, 2011: -- Terminal truck manufacturer Capacity of Texas is expanding its own distribution capacity, adding 13 new dealers in the U.S., the company said Thursday... That dealership expansion, launched at the beginning of the year, generated more than 500 domestic and international orders for Capacity’s terminal yard equipment... Capacity’s expansion is another sign that freight demand remains solid, despite slow economic growth. Trucking companies reported steady demand in August... Capacity builds several lines of terminal tractors for off-highway and highway use in ports, rail yards, warehouses and distribution centers. The company, a subsidiary of $1 billion Allied Specialty Vehicles, has more than 130 dealer outlets in the U.S. and Canada...
* India - Eicher Motors developing new trucks for export markets
Mumbai,India -The Economic Times, by Ketan Thakkar -Sep 17, 2011: -- Indian truckmaker VE Commercial Vehicles Ltd is developing a new range of vehicles that it hopes to sell in overseas markets such as Indonesia, Thailand and South Africa, taking on Korean and Japanese firms that dominate truck sales in these countries... The firm, India's third largest commercial vehicle manufacturer and a JV between Sweden's Volvo and India's Eicher Motors, is working on trucks in the 5-40 tonne range, which it hopes to sell under the Eicher brand in these markets...
* USA - Truck Maker Hino to Resume Full Production at W.Va. Plant
Williamstown,W.VA,USA -The Associated Press/wsaz -Sep 23, 2011: -- The Williamstown plant has returned to a five-day work week with three days of production... Hino Motors Manufacturing USA is preparing to resume full production at its West Virginia plant following a cutback caused by a parts shortage... Sandy Ring with Hino's home office in Michigan says that production will increase to four days a week in October and then five days in November... Hino cut the plant's production and work week after the March earthquake and tsunami in Japan created a parts shortage...
* Japan - Isuzu eyes truck plan with China partner
(Photo: Isuzu GIGA FVZ and FRR Truck diesel)
Tokyo,Japan -AFP -24 Sept 2011: -- Isuzu Motors will develop large trucks with its Chinese partner, as Japanese truckmakers shift their to focus more towards growing markets in the rest of Asia, according to a report... The new project will involve Qingling Motors (Group) Co, the Chinese firm that Isuzu works with to produce light and midsize trucks, the Nikkei business daily said on Friday... The new trucks, which will evolve from Isuzu's heavy-duty Giga series, are expected to go on sale in China and Japan around 2015, it added... It said the Chinese market for large trucks stands at more than one million units a year, compared with roughly 30,000 in Japan... The new vehicles will be assembled at a production line to be set up at Isuzu's Chinese joint venture plant...
* China - Chinese autos struggle for localization in Thailand
(Photo: Dongfeng XiaoKang, a Semi Knock Down SKD) Bangkok,Thailand -Xinhua -Sept. 27, 2011: ... Chen Rongyu, chairman of DFM Minitruck Thailand, told Xinhua that the assembly factory, a joint venture developed by his company and the Chinese parent company Dong Feng Motor, would run into operation next month and reach full capacity in the coming six months... By then, the production of Dongfeng XiaoKang, now a well-known minitruck model in Thailand, will upgrade from Semi Knock Down ( SKD) to Completely Knock Down (CKD), given at least 40% of its assembling process will be transferred to Thailand... Labels: truckmakers news worldwide