At the CV Show, Mercedes-Benz is celebrating record registrations with a dominating presence that covers 5,000 sq m of space, inside the halls and outside too, where 53 vehicles sit. Michael Kamper, Managing Director for Mercedes-Benz trucks in the UK told TNB, “The Birmingham show is a great sounding board for us, and we have attended every one, even through the dark ages of recession.” Kamper confirmed a strong order book for Euro-6 product, despite expectations of a ‘buy forward’ effect generated by the deadline at the turn of the year.
The scope of MB product on show covers every market sector from the company’s Citan light van, up to the Actros-derived SLT, the heavy haulage STGO monster for 250 tonne operation. Kamper says, “It’s the flagship principle. If we can address the incredibly demanding needs of the heavy haulage sector, we can cut it anywhere.” It’s a niche for sure, a good year would see 150 SLTs delivered worldwide.
With a complete product renewal behind them, they’ve now turned their attention to the team that follows the salesman. Aftersales is re-branded customer services, with the appointment of ex-Sales and Marketing Director, Sam Whittaker as the new Customer Services Director. Kamper admitted that while customer feedback showed their quality of customer support to be good, the time it took them to get ‘on the case’ had been too long. “We’ve taken those comments to heart, and our restructure is aimed at reducing the complexity that was hampering that speed of response.”
