Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) has had exports as one of its key focus areas ever since it started production at its plant at Oragadam in Chennai, which is the only Daimler facility globally to make products under three different brands – BharatBenz, Fuso and Mercedes-Benz. Over 5,000 vehicles have been exported to 30 markets across the world from the Oragadam facility until the end of 2016, underscoring the global acceptance of products made in India, especially when they are built with a balance between world-class quality and competitive costing. An official DICV spokesperson shares updates on the company’s striking success in exports.
Excerpts:
Products exported
Exports at DICV are based on several pillars, all of which underline the company’s position as a poster example of the government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative:
- Under the umbrella of Daimler Trucks Asia, DICV started to build medium and heavy duty trucks for the FUSO brand of Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation (MFTBC) in 2013. Today, more than 5,000 units have been exported to 30 markets around the world (end of 2016) from DICV’s manufacturing plant in Oragadam near Chennai. The new robust FUSO range of vehicles currently features four medium-duty (9-16 tonnes) trucks and twelve heavy-duty (16-49 tonnes) trucks, which are developed and rigorously tested to meet the diverse requirements of the target market. In addition to export of complete trucks, we have also been supplying vehicle kits to Kenya for local assembly by a FUSO partner since March 2016, starting with one 25 tonne truck model.
- In 2015, DICV started with the export of bus chassis, which was complemented by the start of exports of completely built buses in 2016.
- Last but not the least, more than 30 million global quality parts from DICV’s Indian highly capable supply base have been exported since 2014 to other units within Daimler Trucks worldwide.
Major regions exported to
For vehicle exports, those regions include Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. In terms of parts exports, we are exporting to our fellow entities with Daimler Truck’s global business – Europa, North- and South America, and Japan.
Key factors behind global success
Consistent quality in line with global standards and proven, reliable products are the key to our success both in our exports and in our domestic business.
Growth drivers
Consistent quality in line with global standards and proven, reliable products are the key growth drivers for our exports, through which we fulfil one of several strategic roles for our parent Daimler AG’s Trucks division.
Plans for 2017-18
While we will not be able to publicly discuss planning figures, we will clearly continue to further expand our exports, both in terms of volumes and markets served.