New Delhi/India, January 4, 2012
BharatBenz
Daimler Reveals Its First Truck "Made in India"
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BharatBenz to redefine India’s trucking industry
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New Indian truck brand BharatBenz to present its full product lineup in March 2012
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BharatBenz |
At a sneak preview for selected Indian journalists, Daimler Truck’s subsidiary Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) revealed the new BharatBenz brand heavy-duty truck. With its first-ever truck “Made in India”, BharatBenz will enter the promising Indian market for medium heavy-duty and heavy-duty commercial vehicles. India has become the world’s third-largest truck market in recent years, boasting a volume far above 300,000 units in 2011.
On March 2, 2012, BharatBenz will unveil its entire truck lineup in the 6 to 49-ton range. The BharatBenz heavy-duty truck will be built on the Mercedes-Benz Axor platform, and the future light and medium-duty trucks will be based on the Fuso Canter and Fighter series. The new trucks will meet India’s BS III emissions standard [comparable to Euro III].
The light, medium-duty, and heavy-duty range of BharatBenz commercial vehicles will be manufactured at the new plant in Oragadam near Chennai in Southern India. Construction of the plant on an area of 160 hectares is almost completed, and production trial runs for engines and transmissions have already begun. The production facility has a total dedicated investment of over 44 billion Indian rupees (approximately €700 million). The plant’s initial production capacity will be 36,000 units per year and can be ramped up to 70,000 units per year. | ||||||||
Using comprehensive processes, DICV has worked hard to set up a network of Indian suppliers and dealerships in the past few months. This included stringent quality and due diligence tests for each enterprise.
The Indian subsidiary of Daimler Trucks now cooperates with more than 450 suppliers. Because the future BharatBenz trucks will have a localization rate of 85 percent, DICV will make full use of the Indian supplier industry’s potential from the very first vehicle it produces. By the end of the year, the company’s dealership network will encompass around 70 locations throughout India, and DICV plans to further extend its sales network all over the country.
In July, Daimler launched a financial services subsidiary for the Indian market, called Daimler Financial Services India, which will offer financing and insurance products for dealers and their customers in order to support sales of BharatBenz vehicles. | ||||||||
Daimler India Commercial Vehicles is a wholly owned subsidiary of Daimler AG, which is based in Stuttgart, Germany. DICV will produce light, medium-duty, and heavy-duty commercial vehicles for the Indian volume market, starting this year. In February 2011, DICV unveiled BharatBenz, an entirely new brand for the Indian market. BharatBenz is the fifth truck brand from Daimler’s commercial vehicle division. The products will be customized to serve all major customer segments, ranging from owner-drivers to large fleet operators. The company, which currently has 1,200 employees, also handles marketing, sales, and aftersales of Mercedes-Benz Actros trucks in India.
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