Around one month after laying the foundation stone for a bus plant, Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) announces more good news: The wholly-owned subsidiary of Daimler AG has crossed the threshold of 10,000 sold BharatBenz trucks since market launch in September 2012.
Selling roughly 2,200 vehicles in the first quarter of 2014, the youngest brand in Daimler Trucks’ portfolio also achieved a growth of 67% as compared to the same period in 2013. BharatBenz’ sales success is even more remarkable considering the development of the Indian truck market above six tonnes which decreased by around 20% in the first three months of the year.
“It is a tremendous success for us that we have already sold 10,000 BharatBenz trucks within just 18 months”, says Marc Llistosella, Managing Director & CEO of DICV. “Despite a challenging market environment, we rely on high-quality products and transparent pricing without any discount. This is how we have gained the trust of our customers in a quite apparent way.”
In September 2012, DICV started its product offensive with the market launch of the first heavy-duty truck models. The product portfolio grew by several variants and medium-duty trucks in the months that followed. Along with the trucks presented in January 2014, three tractor trailers and one truck for construction-mining purposes, BharatBenz now offers vehicles in the range from nine to 49 tonnes GVW (gross vehicle weight). In the segment above nine tonnes, the newcomer has achieved a market share of 5.3% on the Indian commercial vehicle market.
Since May 2013, DICV has added FUSO trucks to its production portfolio at its plant in Chennai. They are determined for Asian and African growth markets; with Tanzania being added as the latest market. Under the umbrella of Daimler Trucks Asia, the company works closely together with the Japanese subsidiary of Daimler, Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation (MFTBC). Next to trucks, BharatBenz- and Mercedes-Benz-branded buses will roll off the assembly line in Chennai starting in the second quarter of 2015. Daimler is investing around 50 million EUR for this purpose.
