Daimler trucks available in India from 3 October

Making competition in the heavy commercial vehicles segment harder, German truck-maker Daimler on Wednesday rolled out its first series of trucks under the brand name BharatBenz.

Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV), which has invested Rs 4,400 crore to set up operations, would introduce 14 more models in various payloads over the next 17 months, company’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Marc Llistosella told reporters.

The trucks will be in showrooms from October 3 through a network of 28 dealerships, he said. The prices range from Rs 15.70 lakh to Rs 20.2 lakh (exclusive of VAT). Sounding bullish on the domestic economy and the industry performance, Llistosella said recent decisions of the government are positive indications for the market.

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“The best time to start something is when it is rough because then you can prove whether you can make it or not,” he said, adding, “We don’t care whether it is the perfect time for others. We are confident of what we can do, what we have and what we can offer.

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“We will drive the change in this market with a whole new range of products,” he added. The company aims to set up 42-45 exclusive outlets by this year end, to be increased to 110 by December 2013.

The heavy duty BharatBenz Trucks-2523R and 3123R for the haulage segment and 2523C for construction segment-are based on the Mercedes-Benz Axor platform and have been localised to suit needs of domestic customers, with a six-cylinder engine of 230 HP.

The products have currently 85 percent localisation and the ultimate objective is to achieve 90 per cent localisation, Llistosella said.

Apart from offering financing facility through Daimler Financial Services, company has also tied up with HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Sundaram Finance and Kotak Mahindra Bank for financing, vice-president for sales and marketing V R V Sriprasad said.

Daimler India has set up a production plant, which is the only third Daimler plant across the world, combining truck assembly and components production at one location for rolling out the BharatBenz series of trucks at Oragadam near Chennai.

Spread over 4,000 acres, the facility has a capacity of 36,000 trucks per annum.

PTI