Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV), the wholly-owned subsidiary of Daimler AG, looks back on a successful year 2015. Domestic sales increased by 37 percent to 14,000 units on the strength of the BharatBenz brand’s powerful product line up. Following its market launch in September 2012, Daimler’s Indian truck and bus brand has introduced 20 products so far in its mission to transform the country’s commercial vehicle segment, with more to follow. Far more than 30,000 BharatBenz vehicles with the hallmark value-for-money proposition have since been delivered to customers, an unprecedented volume-ramp up in the industry.
Mr. Erich Nesselhauf, Managing Director and CEO, DICV, said: “2015 has been another successful year for us. With our portfolio of modern trucks, we have powered ahead on our growth course domestically in India and in our export business. This success was made possible thanks to the excellent contributions of the entire team and our partners.”
Demand for BharatBenz products in 2015 rose especially in the heavy-duty segment. New tailored applications for the mining and the construction segments, such as the highly recognized BharatBenz 3143 CM, resonated well with customers. This exemplifies the strategic direction to introduce an entire family of special purpose vehicles in order to take on other parts of this segment. At the same time, the company’s FUSO-branded export business, as part of Daimler Trucks Asia, continued to grow favourably.
The year 2015 was remarkable for Daimler India Commercial Vehicles due to various milestones that were achieved:
Start of bus production in the 425-crores expansion of the company’s manufacturing operations in Oragadam, entry into the bus segment with BharatBenz staff buses and Mercedes-Benz Super-High-Deck (SHD) luxury coach
Launch of second wave of truck products – including BharatBenz high-powered engine trucks, BharatBenz heavy duty tractors
Launch of the BharatBenz 3143 CM, the first Super-Heavy-Duty truck localized in India
Display of the widest range of mining and construction vehicles at the 2015 EXCON in Bengaluru, South East Asia’s largest construction equipment and technology trade fair
Crossing of the 4-million exports mark of Indian-made parts to other Daimler Trucks entities across the globe
Commenting on the company’s outlook for 2016, Mr. Nesselhauf continued: “With important new BharatBenz product generations hitting the market in 2016, we are committed to sustainably grow our business as part of Daimler Trucks Asia. Both in the medium and heavy-duty segment we will once more raise standards and customer value. At the same time, Indian-made FUSO trucks will play a key role in opening up important growth markets in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.”