With the Frost & Sullivan Awards, the international management consultancy Frost & Sullivan honours enterprises, organisations, corporate divisions and business units which have delivered the best results in their respective sectors with their services. The factors taken into consideration in their assessments include a company's performance-oriented strategy, problem-solving capability, customer and service orientation, commitment and implementation of innovative, long-term and sustained strategies, all of which highlight the significant contributions made by the prize-winners to progress and growth in the global market and competitive environment.
The teams of analysts at Frost & Sullivan applied a complex in-house research methodology to their work leading to the award of the "2016 Latin American Bus and Coach Chassis Price/Performance Value Leadership" prize. The ten assessment criteria include the critical judgement of price-performance attributes such as technology leadership, functionality, product and service quality and reliability. Additional factors include the perceived added value of the product coming out of surveys of customers, suppliers and bodybuilders, the experiences of the bus and coach operators in respect of procurement and operating cost analyses, the servicing and services on offer and the brand value. Daimler Buses Latin America was a clear winner in at least six areas of the analysis.
Latin America is a pure chassis market, the bus chassis are finished off in-country by specialist body manufacturers. Daimler Buses Latin America has been producing buses in Argentina and Brazil for over 60 years now. Despite difficult market conditions, the company was able to build further on its market-leading position in the Latin-American market in the areas of brand image, unit sales, total cost of ownership, safety and environmental compatibility. It now has a market share of 70 percent in Argentina and 53 percent in Brazil.
"This proves that we are wowing our customers with technically advanced, sustainable products and with a comprehensive range of services," comments Da Silva. "What's more, we continue to set the benchmark for mobility solutions with our expertise in the areas of efficient, economic diesel engines, modular chassis concepts for the local bodybuilders and innovative business models for our customers."
An example of this is the expansion of the sustainable mobility concept Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in the megacities of Latin America: Rio de Janeiro and Bogotá are just two of 35 cities around the world who are backing Daimler AG's intelligent BRT systems. This global success is based on the extensive portfolio of low-maintenance buses and bus chassis, the many years of experience in town planning and expertise in servicing, the dense service network especially for buses and tailored service contracts available, all of which make the global market, innovation and technology leader the benchmark for the Latin-American market as well.
The consultants at Frost & Sullivan highlighted the reliability, plannability and optimal overall economy of the products and services so closely oriented to customers' individual requirements which characterise the products and services Daimler Buses Latin America delivers to its bus customers and bodybuilders.
