FRANKFURT, Germany -- DaimlerChrysler, the world's leading producer of heavy trucks and buses, said revenue in its commercial vehicle division climbed by 15 percent to more than $26 billion in 1999.

The company said the success stemmed in part from a new structure that separates the division into five business units: Mercedes-Benz trucks; Mercedes-Benz vans; Mercedes-Benz and Setra buses; Freightliner and Sterling trucks and the engine maker Powertrain.The new strategy of five business units allows each division to enter new markets more quickly than in the past, board member Dieter Zetsche said.

DaimlerChrysler sold a total of 555,000 units last year and said the commercial vehicle division will have "similar sales and revenue results in 2000."

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The biggest growth in unit sales was recorded by Freightliner, Sterling and Thomas Built Buses in the United States, which sold a total of 194,600 trucks and buses, a 52 percent rise from the 128,000 units sold in 1998.

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