TRUCKMAKERS' NEWS * WORLDWIDE

* Brazil - Vehicle Production Hits Record High

Sao Paulo,SP,Brazil -Xinhua/CriEnglish, by Luo -7 Dec 2010: -- Vehicle production in Brazil reached a record-high 3.35 million units in the first 11 months of 2010, up 14.6 percent from the same period last year, the National Automakers' Association (Anfavea) said Monday... The figures surpass the vehicle production registered in the entire year of 2009 -- 3.18 million units. Anfavea expects a total production of 3.6 million vehicles in 2010... In November, a total of 321,084 vehicles were produced in Brazil, up 1.6 percent from October and 10.1 percent year on year... The production of cars and light vehicles increased 12.7 percent from January to November to 3.13 million units, while the production of trucks was up 58 percent, reaching 175,785 units. The production of buses stood at 43,549 units, up 34.4 percent from the same period last year...The rise in production reflected an increase in the employment levels in the automotive sector. According to Anfavea, 135,913 people worked in the automotive industry by late November, up 0.5 percent from October and 9.7 percent year on year... (Photo: Mercedes-Benz do Brasil has received an order for delivery of 550 trucks to Casas Bahia, Brazil’s leading retail company for home appliances, electrical and electronic devices)

* Europe - 30,000th commercial vehicle customer receives MercedesServiceCard

Stuttgart,Germany -The FINANCIAL (Tbilisi,Georgia ) -2 Dec 2010:  ...   Since October, a full 30,000 customers have been able to use this Europe-wide cashless "on-the-road" service facility from Mercedes-Benz. A total of 160,000 Mercedes-Benz vehicles now travel with the MercedesServiceCard on board... What is new is that the MercedesServiceCard is now also available for trailers and semitrailers – irrespective of the brand of tractor unit used. The only requirement is that the vehicle must be fitted with axles supplied by Mercedes-Benz TrailerAxleSystems. Nor does it matter whether the vehicle is new or used... The customer benefits from being able to pay for repairs, order spare parts and access a range of services in the Mercedes-Benz service network – all without the need for cash. The network, with over 2000 locations, is the most extensive of any commercial vehicle manufacturer... If so required, customers can also add the "Full Service package" option to the services outlined above. This gives the freedom to refuel, with attractive discounts, at one of the most extensive networks of filling stations in Europe, independent of brand, and to use the card to pay for all tunnel and ferry costs, as well as all European toll charges..

* Russia - WWF, Greenpeace in campaign against Russian truckmaker KamAz

Moscow,Russia -RIA Novosti, by Vadim Alexeyev -December 3, 2010: -- World Wildlife Fund Russia and Greenpeace have written an open letter to Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, to protest against truckmaker KamAz's purchase of the territory of a national park in central Russia... According to Russian law, national parks belong to the state and cannot be privatized... Last year, KamAz  registered several strips of land within Nizhnyaya Kama as its own territory, saying they belonged to it before the collapse of the USSR in 1991... The park occupies about 500 hectares of land in the valley of the River Kama in the Republic of Tatarstan...