Daimler says Fuso trucks arm in Japan soon back to normal

May 21, 2011, 11:45 GMT

Mannheim, Germany - Germany's Daimler said Saturday it aims to bring its Japanese truck arm, Mitsubishi Fuso, back to full production this summer after the disruption caused by the March earthquake and tsunami.

During May, the world's biggest truckmaker is only likely to operate its plants in Japan at 30 to 40 per cent capacity, the group's commercial vehicles chief, Andreas Renschler, told the German Press Agency dpa in Mannheim.

'I hope we can return to 100 per cent in summer,' said Renschler. 'But this depends very much on the availability of components. At Fuso we have various critical suppliers.'

He said electricity supplies were another issue.

'We are assume that blackouts could happen, especially if June turns out to be very hot and air conditioners need a lot of power,' he said. 'We are trying to cope with this and adapt our shift structure, for example by working Saturdays, Sundays and at nights.'

Asked about the latest business developments affecting the company, Renschler shrugged off plans by Volkswagen, Europe's biggest automotive group, to merge truck manufacturers MAN and Scania to challenge Daimler.

'In the short term, that's not a rival in my eyes,' said Renschler. 'These are just our old competitors.'

He also said a MAN-Scania merger would not be 'as easy as it looks on paper.'

VW supervisory board chairman Ferdinand Piech devised the merger plan with the aim of widening Volkswagen Group, which in the past made vans but not heavy trucks. Volkswagen already owns Scania and holds more than 30 per cent of MAN.

In China, meanwhile, Daimler is still waiting for regulatory permission to establish a joint venture with local truck company Foton, Renschler said.

'We're assuming we will receive the licence in the course of this year,' he said. 'Then we can set up the joint venture immediately.'

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