KamAZ and Daimler's JV to increase production this year by almost 100%
KRASNOGORSK. May 29 (Interfax) - The joint venture Mercedes-Benz Trucks Vostok, which was formed by truck-maker OJSC KamAZ and Germany's Daimler, plans to assemble 2,500 heavy trucks in Naberezhny Chelny in 2012, the JV's director for sales and marketing, Konstantin Kogogin, told Interfax.
"We plan to assembly 2,500 Mercedes-Benz trucks in 2012 and sell 4,500 units," he said.
The JV assembled 1,300 heavy trucks and sold 3,300 units in 2011. Therefore, production should increase 92% while sales would go up 36% this year.
Kogogin also said that negotiations are not underway with Russian supermarket retailer Magnit for the delivery of around 300 trucks. "An agreement might be signed in the coming week," he said. He added that automotive carrier Business Lines plans to purchase around 1,000 trucks built in Naberezhny Chelny. In addition, he said that Stroigazconsulting is another potential client, which might acquire offroad Mercedes-Benz dump-trucks. Several lumber companies are also interested in acquiring trucks for product transport.
Kogogin did not specify the value of the contracts but according to experts' estimates, the cost for a Mercedes-Benz tractor truck might come to just under 100,000 euro while the costs for an offroad dump truck fitted to work in Northern region might come to around 160,000-170,000 euro.
When asked about the impact of Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the introduction of utilization levies for supporting the automotive sector, he said that these developments would have no significant influence on the JV's operations.
KamAZ and Daimler signed an agreement in November 2009 for creating two new JVs, which engage in the production and sale of Mercedes-Benz and Fuso trucks on a parity basis. Both sides each contributed 5.9 million euro for the first JV Mercedes-Benz Trucks Vostok. The enterprise's design capacity comes to 4,500 trucks a year in its first stage. This might be raised to 10,000 units.