Daimler mulls new trucks plant in eastern Europe

Frankfurt - German-US auto giant DaimlerChrysler is considering building a new heavy trucks plant in eastern Europe to meet exploding demand in the region, the head of Mercedes Trucks said in a newspaper interview published Wednesday.

"Expanding our existing sites would be faster, but we can just as easily imagine a new site in eastern Europe where the market are growing, or perhaps a combination of the two elements," Hubertus Troska told the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Building a factory with annual capacity of about 15,000 trucks would represent an investment of hundreds of millions of euros (dollars).

While the heavy trucks market in the US is showing some signs of weakness, it the European market is exploding.

To meet demand in the region, rival truck maker MAN is planning to build a new factory in Poland with annual capacity of 15,000 trucks.

Mercedes is the number one heavy trucks brand in Germany, where it boasts a market shares of 40 per cent. In eastern Europe, it has a market share of 17-18 per cent.

Agence France Presse