Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicles from Daimler AG achieved the top ranking in five of the ten categories included in the 13th readers’ poll for "Best Commercial Vehicles 2009" organised by the publisher ETM. Almost 9000 readers participated in this year’s poll to select their favourites out of 167 candidates from ten different countries.

"I am very proud of the fact that our Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicles have done so well in the ETM readers’ poll," says Andreas Renschler, member of the Daimler AG Board of Management with responsibility for Daimler Trucks and Daimler Buses, at the ETM readers’ poll awards ceremony. "At Daimler we are delighted that a well-informed reading public has voted for commercial vehicles bearing the Mercedes star."

This is now the thirteenth occasion in succession that the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter has achieved victory in the segment "Vans up to 3.5 tonnes". It has topped every single readers’ poll organised by the Stuttgart-based specialist magazine publisher. The Sprinter 2009 is now available with the new OM 651 diesel engine, which meets the Euro 5 requirements as standard, and is even EEV-compliant as an option. At the heart of this vehicle enhancement is a new four-cylinder diesel engine and redesigned V6 engine. During its development, focus was placed on minimum environmental impact. The Sprinter delivers compliance with the Euro 5 emissions standard – and even EEV as an option – plus enhanced economy through reduced consumption.

The Mercedes-Benz Atego took victory in the category "Trucks up to 7.5 tonnes". Euro 5-compliant engines and hybrid drive are the key aspects of the Mercedes-Benz Atego short-radius distribution truck for 2009. Its success speaks for itself. To date more than 250,000 Atego vehicles have been delivered. Its major strengths range from economy through reduced fuel consumption to its high resale value, premium quality (including the cockpit), and outstanding reliability. The vehicles range from 6.5 t to 15 t, with increased load capacity up to 16 t GVW.

Readers of the specialist ETM publications voted the truck model series Actros the winner in the categories "Long-distance haulage" and "Construction vehicles". The new Mercedes-Benz Actros was the experts’ favourite in the "Long-distance haulage truck" category. There are currently ten thousand new Actros models ("Truck of the Year 2009") in operation on Europe’s roads. The new Mercedes-Benz Actros also took first place in the heavy-duty construction sector: the tipper truck’s victory in the category up to 32 tonnes confirms that the Mercedes-Benz Actros delivers the reliability, durability and economy that are so important to this type of work.

This year’s winner in the "Midicoaches" category was once again the Mercedes-Benz Tourino. The two-door, two-axle Tourino midi-touring coach offers seating for 38 passengers and meets the increasing demand for easily manoeuvrable touring coaches used to carry smaller travel groups. No other midicoach boasts the Tourino’s winning combination of a rear engine and front axle with independent suspension, plus a full range of safety equipment including the Electronic Stability Program ESP®.

The readers of the publications "trans aktuell", "lastauto omnibus" and "Fernfahrer" once again voted Mercedes-Benz CharterWay number one this year in the category "Rental/leasing"; no fewer than 10,000 people with a keen interest in this sector awarded the commercial vehicle service provider first place for the third consecutive year. Their selection serves as a reliable indicator for the acceptance of the CharterWay brand image. A total of 20 product groups, including transmissions, tyres, filters, seats, air conditioning/heating, mobile navigation, tippers and rental/leasing were listed.

The readers’ poll for "Best Commercial Vehicles 2009" was organised by the trade magazines "Fernfahrer", "lastauto omnibus" and "trans aktuell" (all distributed in Stuttgart) in cooperation with Dekra AG engineers.