For DaimlerChrysler do Brasil, this year means painting the town red. This is because 2006 is the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of its plant in S'o Bernardo do Campo city. The ceremony was attended by Dr. Dieter Zetsche, DaimlerChrysler's board of management chairman and Mercedes Car Group's head. Andreas Renschler, a member of the DaimlerChrysler Board of Management, was also there. Renschler is also liable for the automaker's Truck Group & Buses.

"Fifty years of operations in this country have contributed to DaimlerChrysler do Brasil becoming a truly Brazilian company which has grown along with the country. With our large experience here and based on 100 years of leadership in the automotive industry, the Mercedes-Benz brand can provide the consumers with premium products and technology. That's why we are the Brazilian market leader in luxury cars, trucks and buses," Zetsche said during the ceremony.

At present, Mercedes-Benz yields 36 percent market share with C-, E- and S-Class. As a fact, Zetsche divulged that 5 out of 10 trucks in Brazil use the automaker's star and flaunt their Mercedes-Benz performance parts.

"The plant of S'o Bernardo has played a strategic role in the DaimlerChrysler Truck Group. In recent years, its rational and lean production system was even considered a reference to all plants of the Group worldwide. In the last 50 years we have produced almost 1,600,000 commercial vehicles here in Brazil," added Renschler.

S'o Bernardo do Campo plant began its production on September 28, 1956 with only 862 employees. Four years after, workers of the plant had surpassed 5,600. Nowadays, the unit employs about 11,500 workers. Said plant is now concentrating on the production of L 312 truck, better known as the Torpedo.

The history of Mercedes-Benz in Brazil epitomizes the pioneering spirit of the automaker. The majority of the Mercedes-Benz parts for trucks and buses incorporate the use of diesel engines. At that time, 2 percent of the trucks available were powered by diesel fuel. In the year 1956, the automaker launched and consolidated the use of diesel fuel for transportation. In 1998, Mercedes-Benz launched the first electronically-controlled diesel engine produced in Brazil. This feature is now made available in the current line-up of the automaker.

The automaker is also responsible for other auto industry innovations like the natural gas-powered engines, ABS and ASR brakes, disk brakes for trucks, Turbo Brake system, Top Brake system, and other key aspects in the auto industry milestones. These contributed features significantly prompted the success of the automaker.