An Du Autohaus, a distributor of Mercedes-Benz cars in Vietnam, signed a contract with the Hanoi-based travel firm ABC International Joint Venture Company July 26 to supply the latter with 40 new Sprinter minibuses in the first phase, with an option to by an addition of 60 units.
At the signing ceremony, An Du Autohaus handed over a symbolic key of the 16-seat Sprinter as to ABC for the first delivery of 20 units. Under the deal, the company will hand over the rest for the customer next month.
Since the launch of Sprinter in 2004, Mercedes-Benz Vietnam (MBV) has received positive responses from customers nationwide, especially from travel and passenger transport companies. As a result, Sprinter became the best seller for the minibus segment in 2005, occupying a 40 per cent market share.
Some 2,500 units of Sprinter have been sold since then.
The current market trend promises a sales volume of around 100 Sprinter per month, which will enable MBV to continue its market leading position in the minibus segment.
According to MBV, more Sprinter minibuses were sold in southern Vietnam than in the north, accounting for 60 per cent. But the demand in northern Vietnam is poised to grow, upon the upcoming regulations that restrict large buses to operate on certain routes in Hanoi during rush hours.
“Our customers who are travel companies or passenger transportation firms in southern provinces have been very successful with the Sprinter. We would like to repeat that success for our customers in the north”, said Udo Loersch, general director of MBV.
In the first six months of this year, MBV sold only 368 vehicles, including 277 Sprinters.
STD, Vietnam Economic Times
Vietnamese
