The buses have been primarily introduced in western and southern regions on routes like Mumbai-Bangalore, Mumbai-Pune, Mumbai-Kolhapur, Bangalore-Hyderabad, Hyderabad-Mumbai, Hyderabad-Vijayawada, Ahmedabad-Mumbai and Ahmedabad-Rajkot. The high-end luxury bus pitted against the Volvo and priced at Rs. 75-80 lakhs has 45-seat capacity under standard layout.
Mercedes is currently importing the bus chassis as CKDs and assembling it at its new facility at Chakan in Pune. This facility has been set up with a capacity to manufacture 1,200 truck and bus chassis per annum. The 305 hp, Euro III-compliant coach comes with an O 500 R/RF chassis from the MB stable and the body built by the Jalandhar-based Sutlej Motors.
Mr. Ashok Bhardwaj, General Manager (CV-Bus Sales), Mercedes-Benz India Private Ltd., said the company is in talks with all the major STUs in the country, including KSRTC, APSRTC and MSRTC, and expects significant orders in the current year both from STUs and private operators.
Mercedes has just entered the luxury bus segment. A global leader with a wide range of products across all segments, the company will definitely look at the city bus segment but only after it establishes its presence in the luxury bus segment.
In an earlier interaction Dr. Wilfried Aulbur, Managing Director and CEO of Mercedes-Benz India, had indicated that the company is planning to launch one or two products in the commercial vehicle segment, which could be in the truck or bus segment. It is still not clear as to which segment the company would launch its products. But considering the opportunity in the city buses, Mercedes could well look at launching its products in this segment. It has already established its service network in Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune, Mumbai and Ahmedabad. The bus market in India is witnessing a tremendous change – a revolution aided by Government-driven infrastructure projects which are dedicated to redefine the mass transportation industry in India.
Large projects like the NSEW corridor and the Golden Quadrilateral are already underway and are close to completion. As links between far-flung places strengthen, there is an increased demand for mass transit systems to move the people with solutions that are reliable, robust, and passenger oriented. It is this need that the Mercedes-Benz buses will fulfill.
