Daimler Trucks & Buses opened a regional center Tuesday in Nairobi and a second center Thursday in South Africa as part of the Germany-based vehicle manufacturer’s efforts to regionalize sales and service of commercial vehicles in emerging markets.
The two African centers will serve markets in South, East, Central and West Africa, the company said in a press release.
These openings follow Daimler’s first regional center opening four months ago in Dubai for commercial vehicles. Three more regional centers are planned in emerging markets, the company said in a press release.
The African offices will manage the sales and service for commercial vehicles for all commercial brands in 50 African markets.
“Through stronger local presence, we will be tapping the potential of these emerging countries even better,” said Wolfgang Bernhard, Daimler AG board member for Daimler trucks & buses. “Instead of leaving the African continent to our competitors we will offer tailor-made products for the African markets.”
Daimler Commercial Vehicles Africa (DCV Africa) will have headquarters in Nairobi, selling light and heavy-duty trucks and mini-to-large tourist buses in Mercedes-Benz, FUSO brands and Mercedes-Benz buses.
In 2015, Daimler sold around 5,900 commercial vehicles in the East, Central and West Africa region in 2015, and 4000 of the sales were the Asian brand FUSO. Growth in transport sector and demand for commercial vehicles are expected to continue, the company said.
The region has a population of 770 million in 41 markets including Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Cameroon and Ghana, where 68 percent of the population is under age 25 – no other region has a higher percentage, according to Daimler.
In the Southern Africa region, Daimler in 2015 sold 5,500 commercial vehicles including 3000 Mercedes-Benz trucks, 1600 FUSO vehicles and 700 trucks from Daimler’s U.S. brand Freightliner.
Daimler’s Southern Africa region includes South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. The expanded southern African region will now also include Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, according to IndependentOnline.
