Mercedes Benz has delivered 10,000 heavy duty SCR trucks to customers, the company has confirmed. Sales of SCR models had reached around 15,000 by mid-January, almost 99% of these for BlueTec 5® (Euro 5-compliant) vehicles, said Mercedes' BlueTec Strategy Manager, Dietrich Müller.

The high proportion of BlueTec 5 sales is due to incentive schemes which make the purchase of Euro 5 models more advantageous in certain countries, Müller said. Mercedes Benz clearly benefits as a key supplier to the German market, where the MAUT road toll is reduced by €0.02 per km for Euro 5- compliant trucks. Sales of SCR trucks have been concentrated in Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Austria.

The 15,000 sales figure puts Mercedes Benz significantly ahead of other truck manufacturers in terms of Euro 5 deliveries. Almost all the vehicles sold are V6 and V8 Actros trucks which Mercedes have been selling since February 2005, several months before its nearest rival, Iveco, launched its Stralis long-haul Euro 4 and 5 sales. Mercedes went on to launch the lighter Axor and Atego models in Euro 4 and 5 versions in October 2005. Other commercial vehicle OEMs in Europe will make Euro 4 and 5 vehicles available only in the early part of 2006.

Müller admitted that it was "unfortunate" that the earlyadoption incentive scheme operating in Germany had led to an imbalance in the sale of Euro 4 and Euro 5 models. He does, however, expect sales patterns to change in the next few months. In European markets where there has been no incentive to buy at Euro 5 level, e.g., the UK, Spain, France and Italy, buyers have proved reluctant to move earlier to the less-polluting Euro 4 and 5 trucks, finding the added expense hard to justify unless their operations involve high mileages in Germany.

However, sales of Euro 4 trucks should take off in the next six months, Muller predicts, as the October 2006 deadline for compliance with Euro 4 emissions limits for all new vehicles moves closer. Euro 5 trucks cost around €1,500 more than counterpart Euro 4 models, so Euro 4 will be favoured where there is no added fiscal incentive to move to Euro 5, he said.

··· MAN will deliver its first Euro 5 SCR truck on 21 January. The company expects to make 1,000 deliveries per month by June 2006 to customers in Germany, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland.