Mercedes-Benz do Brasil is hiring 800 new employees to work in trucks and buses production, in its plant in São Bernardo do Campo, São Paulo. Furthermore, the current 350 temporary employees will become regular contract employees during October. Additionally to the mentioned figures the company will take over 160 apprentices as regular employees.
The new hires are in response to the first signs of recovery in the Brazilian domestic market for commercial vehicles, driven by the Brazilian economy, including the recent announcement of GDP growth in the second quarter of this year. According to Gero Herrmann, president of Mercedes-Benz do Brasil, “the new contracts demonstrate the confidence of the company in the country’s economic recovery after a period of world crisis.”
The Brazilian market has shown a recovery in sales of trucks and buses by mid of 2009, driven mainly by sectors such as agro business, construction and mining and further renewal of bus fleets.
In August for example, the commercial vehicle market over 6 tonnes achieved the highest monthly level in 2009 with nearly 11,500 units sold. Mercedes-Benz do Brazil sold 2,914 trucks over 6 tonnes in August 2009, getting almost 32% market share. In the bus sector, Mercedes-Benz do Brasil had a market share of 50%, with 1,216 units sold in the same period.
Mercedes-Benz do Brasil is the largest manufacturer of Mercedes-Benz trucks outside Germany. São Bernardo do Campo is the only plant of Daimler Trucks to produce trucks, bus chassis and aggregates in the same production site. Since 1956, when it began its activities in Sao Bernardo do Campo, the Company has produced more than 1,200,000 trucks and buses around 540,000.
