In the city of Prague, the privately owned group ICOM transport a.s. today signed a contract with the DaimlerChrysler subsidiary EvoBus GmbH to purchase a total of 600 Mercedes-Benz Intouro intercity buses. The vehicles will be delivered over a period of five years, with 100 buses being handed over this year, and 300 in 2008. The remaining 200 Intouros will be delivered between 2009 and 2011. The new buses will be distributed among several companies of the ICOM transport group, which is replacing or modernizing part of its fleet.

“EvoBus GmbH and ICOM transport have been partners for many years. That’s why we’re delighted that we have once again submitted a successful bid with our particularly economical and environmentally friendly Mercedes-Benz Intouro,” said Holger Suffel, Executive Managing Director Sales, Service & Parts at EvoBus GmbH.

Eva Kratochvílová, Deputy Chairperson of ICOM transport a.s., said about the decision to purchase the Intouro: “ICOM transport awarded the contract to EvoBus because it best fulfilled our criteria, which not only took the purchase price into account, but also the Intouro’s technical, environmental, functional and quality-related characteristics, operating costs, and service and warranty conditions.”

The privately owned ICOM transport group is one of the largest bus operators in the Czech Republic, where its fleet of approximately 860 buses transports about 120,000 passengers every day. The company also operates a fleet of 380 Mercedes-Benz Actros and Axor trucks in the Czech Republic and elsewhere. As a service partner of EvoBus, ICOM also operates its own workshops.

The new Mercedes-Benz Intouro is an economical high-floor bus especially designed for interurban traffic as well as excursions and school service. The Intouro is manufactured in Turkey at the state-of-the-art Hosdere plant near Istanbul, which was extensively expanded in 2005. The Mercedes-Benz Intouro was launched on the market in early 2007, where it replaced the successful interurban version of the Mercedes-Benz Conecto Ü. The latter was developed specifically for the Turkish and eastern European markets, and production commenced in 1998. A total of 330 units of the Conecto Ü have been sold to ICOM transport. All of the 600 Intouro buses destined for ICOM transport will comply with the Euro 5 standard, thanks to the use of SCR-based BlueTec © technology. The Euro 5-compliant engines allow the ICOM buses to already meet the European emissions limits that will not go into effect until 2009.

“This contract is of particular significance to the further development of EvoBus Bohemia s.r.o. in the Czech market, and it confirms us in our strategic decision to invest in an EvoBus service center in Prague,” says Dr. Johann Promintzer, President of EvoBus Bohemia s.r.o., a subsidiary of EvoBus GmbH.

DaimlerChrysler's global bus business – with the brands Mercedes-Benz, Setra and Orion – is combined in the DaimlerChrysler Buses unit. DaimlerChrysler is the world market leader for buses over eight tons GVW. The Group sold a total of 36,200 chassis and complete buses last year. EvoBus GmbH is a wholly owned subsidiary of the DaimlerChrysler Group. Its subsidiary EvoBus Bohemia s.r.o. sells Mercedes-Benz and Setra buses in the Czech Republic. In addition, its Omniplus brand offers services at the new EvoBus ServiceCenter in Prague and at various service partners throughout the country.