Daimler AG and Uzavtosanoat JSC have signed an agreement for the establishment of a bus joint venture. The joint venture will assemble and sell coaches, intercity buses, city buses, and midibuses for the Uzbek market and for export to neighbouring countries. The contract's closing is scheduled for the third quarter of 2010.

The Daimler subsidiary Mercedes-Benz Buses Central Asia GmbH will own a majority stake (51 percent) in the new joint venture. The remaining 49 percent of the new firm will be owned by the automotive holding company Uzavtosanoat. The new company will have $8 million of equity capital.

Uzavtosanoat will provide the factory buildings. Daimler Buses will deliver the Mercedes-Benz chassis, while the bodies will be built in collaboration with Mercedes-Benz' long-standing body-building partner, Manufacturing Commercial Vehicles (MCV).

The production capacities being created allow a minimum of 600 buses annually under full-scale production, with the possibility to gradually increase the volumes. The first batch of vehicles is to be delivered as early as September.

The products manufactured in Uzbekistan will include luxury coaches as well as intercity buses and low-entry city buses and midibuses, which will be sold under the "Mercedes-Benz" brand. All buses fulfill the Euro 3 emission standard which has been effective in Uzbekistan since January 2010.

To date, Daimler Buses has sold around 1,000 buses to customers in the Uzbek capital Tashkent. All the city buses over eight tons GVW sold over the past years were Mercedes-Benz Conecto vehicles, giving the star brand a 100-percent share of the market for city buses longer than 12 meters.