particularly with its engine developer. Certainly on paper its Econic NGT, which is powered by natural gas, looks like a snug fit for the Gulf.

“We are also focusing on alternative fuel trucks and I’m proud to present our Econic NGT,” he enthuses.

Marc Legeay, regional sales manager Middle East at Mercedes Benz Commercial Vehicles, says that the Econic has already found a market in Qatar, a market literally fuelled by CNG. However elsewhere a lack of infrastructure and political will is holding back the potential of sales.

“The material is available, and CNG is available from Dolphin’s refinery in Qatar,” he says. “Abu Dhabi has made the decision to have CNG available at petrol stations. Then it’s just a political decision from there.”

The potential in the Gulf at least is with the municipalities, waste management, fire-fighting and airports, locations where the fuel pumps are not too far away.

“You have to have a certain perimeter of action,” he explains. “We do have this truck running at Doha Airport but it’s with a Euro5 engine, not gas.”

As it plots its next move in the region, Mercedes has three main target markets, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Its ambitions mirrors those of its competitors such as Volvo and MAN Trucks, all of whom have established presences in the markets or are aggressively pushing their distribution networks forward. Legeay says that Mercedes is confident that its dealer network consisting of companies it was worked with for several decades, could prove to be its strongest hand, alongside an ever-evolving service programme.

“We have always had general distributors for cars and trucks,” he says. “We have been here for over 50 years.”

According to Legeay, it means that when people think of Mercedes they don’t just think of the badge but reliability as well. He describes the Actros V8 as the “legendary truck of the market”, extolling its exemplary record in the region. “You must have seen the Mercedes over 4km million, right?”

Surely there is a downside to this reliability. Why get the new model when your old one is still hitting the road?

“Some people can say it’s a pity, we want fleet renewal. OK, but we need to think about budgets. This is not a fancy business. If people are happy with a truck they can run for years and years, it’s our best advertisement.”

Returning to the subject of growth, he also returns to potential of the Iraq market.

“They have oil that they need to transport and they have big cities. Our strategy is to go there with a complete service network. We are not the sort of company that can drop a product into market and leave it.

“We will have one partner, the question is to find the right one. That’s why we’re taking our time we don’t want to make a mistake. We don’t have A countries and B countries, if you buy a Mercedes you get everything that goes with it.”

“We are a normal company, we are not arrogant. At the end of the day an operator would love to buy Mercedes but we have to deserve it. We have to prove we’re the best. That’s the challenge.”